


When Reality Is A Lie

by Destiel_Sabriel4eva



Series: The Misadventures of Arleia Skywalker/Forget Me Not [2]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Arl has issues, Author Is Still Sleep Deprived, Cliegg is Obi-Wan's Father, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Fix-It, Friendship, Garen is far too amused by everything, M/M, Mace has given up, Not necessarily a happy story, Obi-Wan Needs a Hug, References to Suicide, Time Travel, kind of, posession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-02-01 06:36:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 119,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12699402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiel_Sabriel4eva/pseuds/Destiel_Sabriel4eva
Summary: Arl's finally made it through the war, she thought she had reached her finish line.  Unfortunately, someone else has other ideas.  With a second chance at her life, what will Arlie do?  Can she save her friends?  Or is her future as clouded in darkness as it has always been?  All she's really sure of is, it's gonna be one hell of a ride.





	1. The Beginning...Again

_I am a mess, this much is true_

_My mind’s clear enough to get me through_

_No matter what you’re sill my master_

_Despite your age you still fight faster_

_It’s one hell of a battle, but I’ll see it through._

_No matter how broken I get, I **will** save you._

_I’m in love with the safety you project,_

_A chance to betray you I’ll always reject._

_The times I have hurt you I forever regret,_

_No matter what I know that **you’d never forget**._

My name is Arleia Skywalker…sometimes… I am seven years old…sort of…It’s my job to save reality, to save my family...I failed once, I cannot fail again…you’ll help me, won’t you?...Just one thing…And don’t ever forget it…Reality lies…

Chapter 1

“What the fuck?!” Arlie says as she realises she’s seven again, as in again again.  As in this is not the first time this happened, so she reiterates, “What the fuck?! No, you know what no, go fuck yourself! I am done, I’m done, reality can save itself and you, you stupid force, can go fuck yourself. I am not going to save you, we’ve seen how that turns out.  So, one more time, go fuck yourself.”

“Now is that necessary Arleia, the force doesn’t really appreciate it.” A familiar voice says from behind her, she whirls around.

“Madam Force-Seer?” Arlie asks surprised.

“Yes Arlie, it’s me.” She replies.

“Where the bloody hell have you been?!  You leave me on Earth for ten years and then abandon me again through everything!  NONE OF IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HAD JUST LEFT ME ALONE!”

“Arlie, you said you’d help the Jedi be ready to evolve, they did but it took a war to get them there. You have another chance now, and before you yell at me again, it was not me that did this, that is not within my power.”

“Then who did? I’d like to know whose ass to kick.” Arlie says before taking a deep breath. “I tried, I spent thirty years trying.”

“You know more now, know what you must do.” She tells her young, sort of, charge.

“You know what’s going to happen? Xanatos is going to come through that door.  I could save him, but if I do Obi-Wan won’t get a Master. My every choice will have consequences that I will not always be able to predict, what the fuck do you expect me to do!?” The wookiee smiled at her. “Who the bloody hell even are you?!”

“What you should have been doing for the last thirty years.  Listen to your instincts, listen to the force, they are more alike than you like to think.” Then she looks very serious, apparently completely ignoring Arlie’s other question. “Arlie do you know why Yoda hated you so much?” Arlie shakes her head, “It’s because he remembered you.” Her Mentor tells her before disappearing.

“What the fuck?!”

It’s only three days before Xanatos turns up this time.

“Um, hi, sorry I was not expecting a person in here.” Arlie realises very quickly that it’s going to be very annoying hearing things for the second time.

“Well that’s probably because closets aren’t meant to hold people.” Arlie growls.

“This isn’t a closet, it’s a cell.” Xanatos tells her, she looks confused.

“What?!” She asks as she steps out of the room and looks at it from the outside instead of melting it. “Why would they put me in a cell? I’m a slave I’ve spent my whole life learning the consequences of running.” Arlie says confused.

“You’re a slave?” Xanatos asks, Arlie smiles enjoying the chance to see him before everything went wrong.

“I was.” Arlie replies offhandedly as she works through what she knows in her head.  Unfortunately it was a short list, nothing.  She turns her attention back to Xanatos and closely scrutinizes his force presence.

“I can feel that, what are you doing?!” Xanatos demands suspiciously.

“Trying to determine whether you are friend or foe.  You know Jedi are supposed to have a modicum of serenity.  You may wish to try it sometime, it may allow you to see your Master’s perspective on things.  If he sees you trying to do that he may be more inclined to see yours as well.” She tells him, she decides to do whatever the fuck she wants as things happen, fuck the future and fuck reality.

“How do you know about that?” He asks angrily, she sighs as she regains her perfect composure, she may hate them all but she is still a trained Jedi Master.

“Well, with the trouble you seem to be having controlling your emotions, I can’t imagine you get along well.”

“…Fair point.  I think you should come meet my Master.” Xanatos tells her.

“As you wish.” She replies, she spends the short walk there debating how to proceed.  Does she go with them to the Jedi?  Or go completely off script?  She could go free her mother and brother, or at least be on Tatooine to keep Anakin from the Jedi.  Could train him herself so that he isn’t dangerous to himself. She knew none of that would work.  She could just go and straight up shoot Palpatine now and be done with it.  She could go nuts and join the Sith…yeah no.  She could tell the council the truth, they wouldn’t believe her.  She could tell Winni?  Could she even face any of them?  Her brother killed them all and she didn’t stop him when she had the chance. Then she tried to murder him out of revenge for her brother and love.  So many different options, she really hates the force, the universe, everything. 

_A face, a face she can_ _’t quite see, it_ _’s there, staring at her with sickly yellow eyes, it_ _’s climbing out of the in-between and it_ _’s angry._

_‘You knew this would happen!_ _’ Obi yells standing in the middle of the council chamber, he_ _’s looking directly at her as she sits in her council chair._ _‘You did nothing! Again!_ _’_

_‘I_ _’m trying to save you dammit!_ _’ Dooku yells over the noise of a building falling down around them,_ _‘I_ _’d rather die than join you!_ _’ she yells back from under the pillar that_ _’s fallen on her._

_‘I loved you._ _” Garen says as he holds her, his lightsaber through her chest, she can_ _’t breathe.  Blood is pouring over her purple armour as Garen takes the baby from her pliable arms.  Water begins rising around her as he walks away.  Some part of her knows help isn_ _’t coming._

_That face is haunting her, hunting her, it is her._ _‘You should never have come back!_ _’ She yells._

She jerks as she snaps back to reality just in time to keep from walking into Xan who has stopped walking.  She hadn’t thought of that dream since before the war started.  The scary thing is, some of it happened.  Not quite like that but what if it still would? She did end up in that room again, she ended up on the council, Obi yelled at her about doing nothing when she knew it would happen.  Not to mention Darth Vader.  She could keep it all from happening, couldn’t she? The fact that she didn’t again see the events that have now occurred, the room, the moment with Vader, suggests that the Force still thinks the others will, that scares her more than it should have given that she had been certain she’d given up on that feeling long ago.

“Padawan where have you been?  We’re leaving.  Who is this?” Qui-Gon says, she stared at him for a second too long, it had been so many years.

“Um hi, I’m Arlie.” She says dumbly before recovering her wits.  “Sorry about holding him up, I was a prisoner here and Xanatos saved me.” She explains.

“That’s not what we are here for Padawan.” Qui scolds while Xanatos looks at her and says “How do you know my name?” Arlie winces at both.

“Okay, not quite what I meant.  These people kidnapped me and locked me up.  Not so much a liberation as a rescue.” She backtracks, Jinn looks mollified somewhat. “And you broadcast loudly.” She tells Xanatos, it was true after all, his shields were abysmal.  Maybe this would get him to fix it and he could get knighted.

“It is a sad day when a politician on Naboo notices your lack of sufficient shielding and still you haven’t learnt your lesson.” Jinn tells his Padawan earning an unimpressed look, Arlie hides hers well but steps up in front of him in full general mode.

“Perhaps if you attempted to teach this lesson instead of making him learn it alone, it would have been done years ago.” She tells him.

“Arlie, I appreciate you trying to help me but he’s right, if a force null can tell, it’s pretty bad.” Arlie thinks for a moment before her eyes widen a fraction, the only outward sign of her surprise.

“This force null politician, Sheev Palpatine?” She asks, he looks at her confused but nods slightly.  (Force null.) She thinks, (FORCE NULL MY DAMNED ASS, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!) her shielding, luckily, is amazing and they hear nothing.

“Why?” Jinn asks suspiciously, dammit this was not going well, FUCK EVERYTHING, okay she really needed to meditate but dammit she watched the love of her god damned life murder by this stupid evil Sith that was once her brother, then spent god knows how long being tortured by him and now what? None of it has happened? Fucking fuck that!

(Okay deep breath Arls.) Dammit now she was thinking in the third fucking person, ARGHH. “Because I’ve been stuck in a tiny room, or, cell or whatever the fuck it was for a month.” She says, dark and cold, so dark and cold.  She didn’t want to be alone again (BREATHE DAMMIT! Okay yelling doesn’t help, fucking fuuuuck okay calm down, calm. Down. Arghh what do I do how do I calm, wait what was it?

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

you make me happy, when skies are grey

you’ll never know dear, how much I love you

please don’t take my sunshine away.

Okay, now speak.) “My apologies, it’s been a stressful few years.” (Understatement of the fucking century.)

“How old are you?” Jinn asks, Arlie almost panics again before she remembers her mentor’s words.

_Listen to your instincts, listen to the force_

“Seven.” She replies calmly, he looks surprised.

“Perhaps you should return to Coruscant with us.” Arlie smiles at him.

“Somehow I knew you’d say that.” She replies, “Fine, I’m not exactly going to stay here, now am I?” Xanatos smiles at her, apparently warming up to her.

On the ship, they start having the same argument as before, she sighs to herself and drops her head into her hands.

“Let me guess, you have something to say about this as well.” Qui-Gon states sounding more sarcastic than she thinks she’s ever heard him.

“I was considering that perhaps you two just weren’t a good pairing.  You have the potential to be an exceptional teacher, and you a strong and kind Jedi Master, but you’re blocking each other’s success.” She says looking to them both in turn, it was something no one had considered before, but was the simplest answer. “Food for thought.” She replies before heading out of the cockpit and finding a place to sit down and meditate.

A few hours later they arrive on Coruscant, Jinn takes them straight to the council chamber as he had the first time. (The first time, does that even make sense? I’ve got to remember everything my mentor told me when she first trained me, that time is a matter of perception.  I could consider this my second, or third technically, life.  The second time I’ve gone through these events, or look at it as the first given that before didn’t happen.  But if time doesn’t exist how can everything be repeating the same way? What is more confusing is my Mentor saying she doesn’t have the ability to do this, it’s a relatively simple concept.  I’m 90% sure I could have done this.  But then who else has knowledge enough of the in-between to make the jump? And also, if time doesn’t exist, then how can speed? That’s literally just distance over time.  And what about time dilation around strong gravity distortions like black holes?)

Just as before, or whatever, Qui stands in the centre of the room with Xan to his right and slightly behind. For her part, Arlie just leans against the doorway not sure she wants to properly enter the room she watched her Vader slaughter children in.  She really hates every single person in this room, she wasn’t sure when her hatred extended to her Masters, but she’d get over that. That being said, she was so happy to see them again, she’d seen so many slaughtered at the hand of her bro…no Vader, nothing would undo that, but maybe this would help her heal. (Or possibly do the opposite.) She thinks to herself as she looks over every council member, picking up a great many things she hadn’t noticed the first time she met them thirty years ago. Now that she’s looking at him specifically, Arlie can see a flash of recognition in Yoda’s eyes followed by some nostalgic sadness. (What the fuck is that about?) she thinks deciding puzzling it out should be a high priority of hers.

“Master Jinn, you seem to have picked up a passenger, who might this be?” Mace asks, yep she’s broken again.  The most important person in her many lives and he doesn’t remember her.

“This is Arlie, she was on board the Trade Federation’s freighter.” Qui tells them, Arlie freezes (The Trade Federation…?)

_“Xanatos fell five weeks after he found Arl, Qui-Gon dies just after finding Anakin, Dooku gets forced into some precarious position with them and Palpatine_ _’s new target is Anakin.  Not to mention Anakin_ _’s Master is his son and you just happen to be the padawan of his brother._ _” Bellan says looking at Arlie for the last part._

_“But I_ _’m nobody?  I_ _’m just a slave._ _” Arlie says when everyone looks at her with calculating gazes._

_“You_ _’re a lot more than that Arl, you_ _’re the first person in a thousand years give or take a few hundred, that had been trained to use force-magic.  You said it wasn_ _’t light or dark right?  Maybe it_ _’s a threat to whatever he is doing which makes you a threat.  If he is targeting you he seems to be corrupting or taking everything important to you, trying to leave you alone.  I think he wants you on his side._ _”_

(Oh crap.)

_“_ _I think you_ _’_ _ll make a good apprentice._ _”_

 (They were right, he saw me melt that room.  That’s why he was after me.  It was me all along, my fault.)

“Bring her here you should not have.” Yoda tells Qui-Gon, Arlie resists the urge to roll her eyes.

“I believe you should give her the initiates test, she is no force null, and she knows much of the Jedi.” Qui replies.

“She is also right here and not appreciating you speaking of her as though she cannot hear you Master Jinn, Master Yoda.” She tells them not breaking her composure but still managing to seem annoyed, all look shocked.  She needed to stay, she needed Mace. Arlie walks forward and towards her target as she keeps herself from second guessing what she was doing. “Hello, my name is Arl Aa, and you are?” She asks as she holds out her hand for Mace to take. She’s not certain why she gave that name, she was sure she’d never use it again.  Perhaps it was a sign that she needed to embrace the ways of the Jedi from the beginning, or be Master Aa again and not some dumb Padawan.

_Listen to your instincts, listen to the force_

(Right, I can do that.)

“You know of me but not of him?” Qui-Gon asks confusedly.

“No, Xan was thinking of the two of you, he has not yet thought of, ah Mace Windu, head of the order.” Arlie says even as Xanatos thinks of Mace, it’s a good cover but she feels marginally guilty for getting him in trouble. “Xanatos, do me a favour, picture a wall being built, the bricks being laid higher and higher, many walls surrounding a single area with you inside it.  Many layers getting stronger and stronger protecting you from all outside forces.” Arl says pleased when he does as she says.

“Why?” He asks.

“She’s just taught you to shield your mind.” Micah tells him.

“It’s that simple?” He asks looking at his Master like he’s nuts.

“It would not have been compatible for me, I suppose I never thought of it like that, my apologies Padawan.” Qui-Gon says truly meaning it, he was beginning to think perhaps the child was right and they were a bad pairing.

“Impressive.” Mace says grabbing the hand she was still partially holding out and shaking it. She feels the training bond be created and snap into place like it was always supposed to be there.

“That was a force created training bond, my gods I’ve never witnessed the creation of one before.” Depa says awe in her voice, Arlie’s got to say, it’s a lot nicer going through all this when she knows who they are as they speak.

“Miss Aa, would you do me the honour of joining the Jedi Order and becoming my Padawan?” Master Windu asks shocking all occupants of the room.

“Mace she’s far too old.” Micah says, Arl now fully recognises the teasing in his voice and sighs when she realises she’s going to have to get them back together.  She thinks she understands better now why Yoda meddles so much, it’s hard not to when she knows they would be happier.

“It’s force-willed Micah, we follow the will of the force.” Master Windu shoots back, Mic raises his hands in the universal I surrender position, but Arlie can see the mirth lighting up his eyes.

“The honour would be all mine Master Windu.” She replies now knowing the correct response, he looks confused but pleased as she says the traditional line.

“Well at least you won’t be starting from scratch Master Windu, she clearly already has an understanding of the force.” Qui tells him.

“But control it can she?” Yoda asks inquisitively and a modicum of condescension.

“Control it she can and show you she will when stop speaking as though she is not here you do.” Arlie replies with a kind smile, Yoda glares at her, she just keeps smiling even as she moves to stand beside Jinn once more. Micah barely covers the smile and laugh with a cough into his hands, she meets his eyes delighted by the amused twinkle in them. She notices Qui-Gon tense beside her and sees the miffed look on Xanatos’ face and realises they are arguing through the training bond, typical.  She glances at Xanatos motioning with her head to Qui with an expectant look on her face.  He takes a deep breath, she assumes he apologises because whatever he says throws Qui-Gon off so much that he actually looks surprised.

“Something you’d like to share with the rest of us?” Adi asks.

“No Masters, I believe we will be all right.” Qui-Gon says with a small smile, some tension that had been on everyone’s, including her, shoulders is instantly lifted as though they had all been waiting for him to say it.  It was clear no one had missed the double meaning.  By some odd instinct she locks eyes with Yoda who looks appreciative as if knowing she had something to do with it, she smiles and nods to him, he smiles back.

“Something to show us I believe you do, proceed you may if wish to you do.” Arl smiles kindly since he asked instead of ordered, she wonders what was so different so far that he had changed his entire approach to her.  Deciding not to drown everyone this time she smiles coming up with an idea. She moves her hands in a certain intricate fashion before pushing the force through to follow her will, it was odd, she’s only just realised how little she used this ability over the years.  Suddenly the room’s walls, floor, ceiling and chairs are all ice but the people are untouched.  She puts skates on the bottom of Xanatos’ feet and her own, he nearly falls but she uses force-magic to keep him upright before dragging him around the ice, she makes snow fall as she helps him skate around the room Micah is smiling and laughing, in fact everyone looks rather happy and Xan looks terrified but ecstatic. Arl spares a thought and a hand to putting skates on everyone else’s shoes giving them the option, Micah drags Mace up as he attempts to skate, Mace doesn’t look happy with the idea but humours him.

“What are we doing?” Xanatos yells over the sound of laughing and falling councillors.

“Ice skating!  You’ve never been?” She asks, he shakes his head.  She looks around and sees everyone looking surprised at their feet and realises none of them have even heard of it.  She’s just introduced ice skating to this universe.  Then Arlie saw something she thought she’d never see, Yarael smiled.

“I think that may be enough Padawan Aa.” Yarael says though he looks happy. She nods, guiding Xanatos back to his master, Arl then goes and shows her Masters how to skate back, Mace picks it up easily while he and Arl end up dragging Micah back.  Then she unfreezes the room and the skates, stops the snow, melts it all and then dries it until it’s as though nothing happened.

(Much better than rain.) She thinks happily.

“Well, I’d say that’s demonstration enough, Qui-Gon would you please give your report on your actual mission?” Saesee requests, it was more of a compliment than she’s heard from him before.

“Of course Master, The Trade Federation do not seem fond of the Jedi and refused.” He replies succinctly.

“Troubling this is but expected.  Another way we will find.” Yoda announces, soon after they are all dismissed, she follows Mace back to their quarters, it’s rather odd to see it without all the knick knacks Mic and Arlie had forced upon Mace but she’ll fix it she’s sure.  Arlie’s suddenly caught by the horrible thought that she’s now actively lying to her Master again except now she cares and knows she can trust him.  Now she’s angry again,

(I fucking hate the force, why would it do this? What possible purpose could this have? You’d think I’d fucked up so spectacularly last time that it would have found something else to save it.)

“Are you all right Padawan?” Mace asks, Arl realises she’s scowling and breathes her anger out into the force, she hates doing it but the force can suffer, she breathes out that as well.

“Quite, thank you.” She replies, he looks her over.

“Most initiates your age do not have that kind of control over their emotions and they’ve usually been here for years, it’s rather impressive.” He tells her, she smiles at him.

“Master if I truly had control of my emotions I’d have had no need to release them into the force.” She replies, he looks even more impressed.  She supposes she is acting like a forty-eight-year-old Jedi Master and High General rather than a seven-year-old padawan with no Jedi experience.

“Where did you learn how to do any of this? And what was that back there?” she suppresses a sigh as she thinks carefully about what to say, she stands with her hands clasped in front of her, back straight and looking confident and in control.

“I learnt from a wookiee, I believe she was a Jedi at some point though I’m not sure when.  I’m afraid I have no more information about her than that.” (Besides she’s a force-seer but you don’t need to know that) “That was Force-Magic.  It’s a technique that’s been out of practice for about a thousand years, you see a very long time ago there were no Jedi or Sith.  It was just a group of people who knew how to listen to the force and I’ve no idea what they called themselves.  Anyway, eventually the group splintered and became the Jedi and the Sith, neither side decided to keep using and teaching Force-Magic because they both believed it of neither the light nor dark side of the force and so it’s techniques were lost to the centuries.” She explains, he looks thoughtful.

“How do you know this? And how did this wookiee learn it then?” He asks though he does not look to be in denial about anything she’s said.

“A lot of research, and I’m not sure.  My mentor told me that the force had taught her but I don’t know if she meant that literally, nothing I’ve learnt would show that to be possible but I’m not one to rule things out without definitive proof of its impossibility.”

“A wise philosophy.” Mace tells her.  Micah comes over while Mace is giving Arlie her padawan braid, yet another thing happening differently this time.

“You guys realise you left the door open, right?” Micah asks after just walking in.

“I did not notice.” Mace replies honestly as Arlie tries not to laugh.

“So, Arlie, right?” Micah asks as he plops down onto the floor beside her, she’s sitting by her Masters feet as he’s on the couch so that he could make the braid.

“Yes, Master Giiett.” She replies suppressing a smile when they both looked shock at her use of his name.

“All right we’ll come back to that, I have a far more important question.  Where did you learn to run on ice?” He asks Arlie smiles at his antics carefully shielding away the rush of affection she felt for the man.

“My owners once took me to Hoth, it’s common practice there.” She answers with the first thing that came to mind.  She was certainly being more open this time but they would not yet believe her if she told them of Earth.

“You were a slave?” Micah asks looking a little disturbed but she knows him well enough to know it’s the practice of slavery he’s disgusted by, not slaves themselves.

“Yes, before pirates, well apparently it was actually the trade federation, boarded our ship and kidnapped me.  Actually, I suppose given they illegally boarded the ship and took the owner’s property, that is piracy.” She muses still rather disturbed in the trade federation’s involvement though she covers it easily.

“Why would they take you?” Mace asks, Arl ponders this for a moment as her Master lowers himself onto the floor beside her having finished her braid.

“I’m unsure honestly, I suppose it may have something to do with my father, or maybe they just hated my owners, perhaps they fucked with the federation at some point.  I’ve never had a run in with them until they attacked, I’m from Tatooine you see, even _they_ don’t go there.”

“Language padawan.”

“Sorry, would you prefer Huttese? Old Nubian perhaps?” Micah looks amused her Master looks terrified, it takes her a moment to realise how much she screwed up. (Old Nubian, oh I done fucked.) 

Micah ends up crashing on the couch that night, in the morning there was no council meeting, since yesterday’s hadn’t been cut short, so after breakfast Mace takes her straight to the salle. Arlie looks around and sees more than a few people she had watched die, had sent to their deaths, people Vader killed, and a few that had fallen and killed others.  She’s a general dammit, she will not be beaten by old ghosts no matter how lively they now are.  She sees Quinlan Vos with a Padawan Braid, that’s weird, fighting his Master. She winces as he goes down.

“If he’d followed through with that last swing he’d have won that.” She says as Mace stands next to her earning her a puzzled look.

“Fight me.” He says holding out a lightsaber she knows he built for her, she smiles and accepts it this time.  She hadn’t seen the blade in years, lost it when Garen decided flying like a fucking insane person over Mon Calamari was a good idea.

She waits until he attacks sliding between his legs pulling them both as she does, he falls face first and she hears a snap she thinks is his nose.

“Ow.” He complains as he sits up, yeah there’s a lot of blood.

“Sorry Master.” She says before using force-magic to heal his nose floats over a towel from the rack on the wall and giving it to him to clean the blood away.

“That’s frivolous use of the force Padawan, but thank you.  You should consider going into healing.” He tells her after wiping away the blood.

“Is that just because you don’t want to get beaten again?” she asks sweetly with an innocent smile, his eyes light up at the challenge presented.

“Let’s go again.”

They spar for a few hours, Mace ending up on his ass several times. “All right, I yield.” He finally says, she lets him out of the hold she had him in and helps him up.

“Most impressive young Padawan, when my former Padawan told me of Mace’s newest student I almost didn’t believe he went against protocol, but now I see why.”  Dooku says, she looks at the chrono and realise they are indeed back at the time they would have finished their first fight had they had their council meeting.  She sees Qui-Gon looking impressed and Xanatos smiling at her looking far less drained than he did the last time.

“How kind of you, I’m Padawan Aa, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She tells him bowing the perfect distance that all Padawan’s seemed to think you learn upon obtaining your mastery when really, it’s just habit after so many years.  Not that she would ever tell a Padawan that, (Great now I miss Quilo.) she thinks sadly.

“Master Dooku, and the pleasure is mine.” He replies with a smile that no longer set her on edge, though she felt the cold feeling she always had around the man.  It was nothing like the moment he told her he had murdered Xan.

(No, I am not thinking about this right now.) she scolds herself.

“I came down here to assess my Grand-Padawan’s skills, would the two of you care to join us?”  Dooku offered, Arlie sees the assessing look in his eyes and ponders for a moment if it was more than her skills with a lightsaber he was judging.  She nods slightly when Mace looks to her to check if she wanted to, Arl didn’t realise it the first time round but here, he was granting her a kindness that most Master’s would not have.  Stupid fucking Jedi.

“We would like that Master Dooku, that is, if Master Jinn doesn’t object?”  Master Windu answers, Arl looks at her Master before looking pointedly at Xan and back again with a pleading look in her eyes, begging him to trust her on this. “And if Padawan Xanatos doesn’t mind of course, he is after all, the one being assessed.” Mace adds receiving a startled look from the three Jedi present.

 “Xanatos?” Master Jinn asked looking at his Padawan who seemed floored by the concept of his opinion being taken into account.

“I have no objection Master.” Xanatos replies giving Master Windu and Master Jinn a very grateful look.  And so, they watched as Xanatos and Master Jinn sparred.  After the match, Master Dooku gave his observations to both student and teacher as did Master Windu.

“Why not have Miss Skywalker give you advice on listening to the force during a fight?”  Master Dooku suggested of Xanatos who looked uncomfortable.

“One would think the Master training him could handle that.” Arlie says immediately, Qui-Gon and Mace give her an unhappy glare, she inwardly sighs. “What I mean to say is, perhaps if Xan were to tell Master Jinn the parts of his training he doesn’t understand, then Master Jinn could find someone that could try a different method of teaching in order to help Xanatos learn.  I have been here for less than a day and am by no means qualified to tutor a Senior Padawan.” Arlie tells them all trying for her diplomatic voice.  Slightly harder to do with a whiny seven-year-old’s voice.

“Should not Master Jinn be capable of training his own Padawan?” Dooku challenges, Arlie gives him a patient smile, the one she used when explaining complicated tactical concepts to Quilo.

“Of course, but is it not more important that Master Jinn put what is best for his Padawan’s future ahead of his own desire to train his Padawan alone?” She responds keeping her face neutral and unchallenging.  When she was truly younger, she would have loved the chance to banter with the man, but she was no longer an obnoxious and cynical seventeen-year-old.  She would rise above such childish nonsense, at least for now.

“Quite.” Was Dooku’s reply.  “I’ve also noted that your skills in shielding are much improved dear Padawan of my Padawan.” He tells Xanatos whose head ducks slightly.

“Thank you Grand-Master, Padawan Aa helped me with that actually.” Xan says, Arl could have kicked him in that moment.  Could he not just let his Grand-Master have confidence in his capabilities.

“Not qualified, hmm?” Dooku says rising an eyebrow in challenge, Arl won the battle to keep from rolling her eyes, marginally.

“Well there is only so much instruction one can give before it becomes the responsibility of the student to put it into practice, a truly great accomplishment of yours Xan, especially given how long you have struggled with it.” Arl replies smiling at the man who was once her saviour, she shielded well so that no one would feel it as her heart hurt in a way it hadn’t for years.

“Indeed, surely a recognition of your accomplishments is in order Grand-Padawan, perhaps dinner in the commissary.  Master Windu, I’d be delighted if you and your Padawan would accompany us, given the help your youngling gave our dear Xan.” Dooku says with a proud smile on his face.  If there was one thing Arlie had learnt about her long ago friend, it’s that he won’t see anything but more lessons to learn until someone forces him to look back on what has already been achieved.

“That sounds like a fantastic idea, Master Windu?” Qui-Gon asks jumping onto the idea if only to give his Padawan the support from Dooku that he was never gifted with.

“Assuming the Padawans have no objections we’d be delighted.” Winni replies, Arl and Xan exchange happy looks before agreeing enthusiastically.

 

A few hours later they were in the commissary enjoying themselves just as they had last time.  Arl could admit she was already sick of the quoting, however it was more than worth it to have this again.  Arlie must have said something drastically different because instead of merely being proud of Xanatos, Dooku was actively giving him advice about his training that Xanatos could truly understand in a way he just couldn’t with Qui-Gon, yet more evidence that they weren’t a good pair to start with.

“I must say Padawan your vocabulary and general understanding of things is quite advanced for a seven-year-old.” Dooku says during their meal after their laughter died down from an old joke Mace had told, they had gotten several bewildered looks from that.  Arlie thinks that happened last time as well but now understands it is from Dooku and Mace laughing at all, not to mention with Xanatos and Qui-Gon.  Arlie also thinks Dooku said this last time, but with something about pirates raising her, she was extremely glad that hadn’t gotten around again, she still wanted to kill Garen for that.

(Except I can’t because some indeterminate amount of time ago he was slaughtered in front of me by the evil Sith that was once my brother. Nope, don’t do this to yourself Arls, breathe out the anger. And answer Dooku, if you wait much longer you’ll sound like a kriffing crazy person!) “I grew up surrounded by very intelligent people.” Arlie replies, Mace looks at her oddly. (Right he knows about Tatooine, redirect REDIRECT!) “Okay, person, my mother was a very well spoken woman.” She tells them.

“A well spoken woman you have not seen since you were five…” Mace says confusedly, Arlie keeps her face carefully neutral when inside she wanted to throttle her former...no wait…current Master.

“It’s a lot easier to survive in that kind of life if you are easily understood and know which words to say to avoid getting blown to pieces.” Arlie tells him, which is true, and her Mother _is_ good with words, it just isn’t how Arlie learnt.  She learnt through experience and having an English teacher as a Mother on Earth.  Not that English and Basic are the same language, but there are more than enough similarities that she can twist words in Basic as well as she can in English, not to mention the languages and ways of speaking she has picked up throughout her life in this universe.  And her Mentor had had a way with words.

“And what kind of life, may I ask, was that?” Dooku questions, Arlie spares a thankful look to both Jinn and Xan that they hadn’t mentioned it without asking her, even though it would not have bothered her, it was just a nice gesture that she appreciated.

“I was a slave on Tatooine for two and a half years of my life. Then I spent almost two years travelling across many different outer rim planets with different owners and then a month, I think, on another ship after I was kidnapped.” Arl says honestly but specifically leaving out the trade federation.  She wants to somehow tell Dooku that at some point, see if his reaction will tell her if he is already involved with Sheev, however she couldn’t now.  Saying it so openly would cause political repercussions she did not want to be responsible for.

“That’s only four and a half years, where were you the other three?” Dooku asks, to most people he would appear rude, the other three seem to have given up hoping he wouldn’t be, but Arlie knew better.  He wasn’t being rude, he was reading her reactions to the conversation and judging its directions from that, she was also well aware that he knew she could tell and he knew she was doing the same.

“Where indeed?” She replies with a smirk, “The freighter I was born on.  I can’t remember the specifics of where we were but I believe we were planet hopping in an attempt to flee the Hutts.  My owner at the time had fucked one of them over big time.” She replies with a cruel smile, “For that he lost all the slaves he had had, given to Jabba as compensation and then sold off again, in the case of my mother and I, to a salesman on Tatooine.”  This was far more than she had ever told anyone in any lifetime, her Mother wasn’t aware that she remembered so much, but that kind of thing is not easily forgotten, not even at three years old.

“What happened to him?  The…freighter captain I mean?” Xanatos asks awkwardly avoiding the word ‘owner’ and interrupting Mace’s reprimand of her language that was half-hearted at best given the topic.

“I’ve no idea actually.  Still out there being the most vile thing I’ve ever come across.  Useless waste of carbon if you ask me.” Arlie mutters irately.

“I’m sure there are worst things that you’ll meet Padawan.” Mace tells her in a voice that says she should let go of such preconceptions.

(I once stood in a room with two Siths and the corpse of the dark Jedi that had once been my best friend.  There is nothing worse than that man.) She thinks but out loud says “I suppose you are right Master.  I just hope I never have to deal with him again.” Mace nods acknowledging the point.

Later, Arlie finds herself looking out of the window with Xan beside her introducing her to the buildings they could see as he had many times before, the man really loves Coruscant and knows it all well.  Knowing what he would say next she decides to say what she had never truly said before.

“Xan, I just want to say thank you, so very very much.  Who knows where the hell I’d be by now if you hadn’t rescued me.  You could have left me there, so many things that could have gone differently and instead I am here in the best place I have ever been.  I can never tell you how thankful I am to you for this chance you have given me, even if it wasn’t your intention.  So, thank you Xanatos, you’re my saviour, you always will be.”  She tells him as tears fill her eyes for so many reasons, but above all, it’s for exactly the reasons anyone watching them would expect, she almost feels seven-years-old for real.  Xanatos wraps an arm around her shoulders as they gaze out of the window.

“I was just about to thank you as well actually.  I have been trying to live up to some unrealistic expectation that no one truly had for me, it’s been a day and already I am doing far better now that I have lost that misconception.  So, I guess we are even, I brought you here, and you helped me stay.” He tells her briefing looking down at her to smile, she smiles back.

“You’ll make a wonderful Jedi Knight, Xanatos.  You need to believe in yourself instead of relying on others to believe in you.” She tells him snuggling into his side slightly.

“So my Brother-Padawan says.” She smirks, marginally glad he can’t see it.

“I’m sure Feemor does.” She replies before walking away and back to their table leaving a bewildered senior Padawan behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A week after Arlie arrived on Coruscant, she stands in the council chamber watching as Xanatos, Qui-Gon and Dooku all walk into the room and stand in the centre in front of the councillors.

“I come before this council requesting that I be reassigned to a new Master.” Xanatos says knowing that it has to be the Padawan to request it.  The effect is instantaneous, the council sputtering and floundering as Mic and Mace share a completely shocked look, Arlie feels surprised but looking at the three of them she understands their plan.

 ** _“Trust them Master, they have something genius in mind._** ** _”_** Mace looks at her questioningly before nodding.

“I assume there is a reason there are three of you present?” Mace asks losing his sputter at his Padawan’s encouraging words.

“Yes, Master Windu, I wish to take Padawan Xanatos as my own to complete his training.  It is a belief shared between the three of us that my former Padawan is not the right person to do so.  He has done a fine job but we believe they are no longer quite suited and believe I may do a better job at helping Xan understand our ways.” Dooku tells them grateful for Mace getting to the point, everyone is a little surprised that Dooku called Xanatos Xan, everyone except Mace and Arlie who have heard it before.  Thinking more on it, Mace isn’t at all surprised and might even agree with the assessment.

“Believe this you do Qui-Gon Jinn?” Yoda asks morosely.

“I do, I may not like the idea of giving up my Padawan but it is the duty of a Master to put what is best for their Padawan’s future and learning above their own desire to do it alone.” Qui-Gon says with a sad smile, Arl looks proudly at them, this may not have been what she was expecting, but it meant she may get her way on quite a few things.  If she played her cards right, Qui-Gon may yet be able to take Obi as his Padawan, the problem then is Anakin.  She obviously isn’t going to let Qui die but then who takes her Ani?  Will Qui-Gon do it as he once planned?  She hoped he wouldn’t so easily shove her step-brother aside even if it meant making way for her other brother.  In any case she would worry about it later, for now she smiles encouragingly at the three men standing before her.

“A noble sentiment that is Qui-Gon, the council agrees.  May the force be with you all.”  Master Mundi says, Arlie clearly remembers the moment she found out Ki had died, he was the first among the council to die and she still felt responsible for it.  She still felt responsible for a lot of things.

 

That night Arlie has the same dream she’s been having for nineteen years and wakes up gasping.

“Shit, if Xan is with Dooku will he fall faster or slower?  Gods, I just handed my once fallen friend to the man I once knew as his murderer.  No, no, Arlie don’t do that to yourself, there is only so much you can do and you’ve meddled enough on this.  Just keep an eye on it and for the sake of all the kriffing gods stop talking to yourself!” She aggressively hisses to herself.  (But what if that’s what dream Obi means? That she knew it would happen and did nothing again, what if he means Xan falling?  But if that were true then it won’t happen until she’s on the council except…except the future is always in motion.)

Knowing she would get no more sleep, Arlie goes out onto the balcony to meditate, something she found she could do to new levels, could see everything through the eyes of the force and feel every life form on Coruscant.  She’d always known that the Jedi knew very little about communing with the force but this was an intensity she had never even imagined.  She spared a single moments thought to whether her almost death and subsequent ‘time travel’ had anything to do with it before she allowed herself to be lost in the new sensations and follow the flow of the force.

A few hours later Arlie came back to the balcony utterly confused, it took a few agonizingly long moments for her to remember all that had happened and realise when and where she was if not how.

“Impressive that was.” Yoda tells her, she had known he was there and was not startled however she was confused about his presence.

“It is an honour to get such praise from you Master Yoda.” Arlie tells him determined to get along better with the little troll, she was well aware that the hatred she felt was not directed at this version of him and was too well trained to allow it to influence how she interacted with him now.  She decided she could be as angry as she liked so long as it didn’t affect how she did her job.

“Hmm, for you I think not so much.  Mastery of the Force such skill shows, impossible that should be yet witnessed it I have.” Yoda tells her still the embodiment of calm serenity, an aura and expression she knew she also possessed.  It was as fake on him as it was on her, she knew him far too well to fall for it.

“You fear me.”  She says, it’s not a question nor a statement but a simple truth hanging in the air around them, yet it was not quite right.

“Fear you I do not, concerned about what it means I am. Wrong am I to do so?” Yoda questions as he sits in front of her, both in the lotus position.  She could sense her Masters in the living room, probably discussing her, Terza was there as well.

“You are concerned for your family, your Kin, of course you are not wrong to do so, but perhaps your concern is not based on protectiveness so much as fear for what you do not understand.  That is a dangerous habit to fall into Master, you may one day end up fearing that which could save us all.” Arlie tells him, he gives her a considering look.

“Many years of practice it would take to meditate as you have.  Many years more would it take to master the skills in the force you have.  Discipline you show, yet discipline you have not learnt, possible it must be, but how?” Yoda asks, she smiles kindly at him.

“Master Yoda, I will answer your question if you answer one of mine.” She tells him after several minutes of debate, he nods for her to continue. “Where do you recognise me from?” She asks, he smiles at her.

“At a stalemate we are, ready for that you are not, ready for your answer perhaps I am not either.  One day though, be ready we will.  An explanation the others will require.” She looks thoughtful for a while.

“I’ll tell them the truth, I tried to meditate and the force carried me away.”

 

Five weeks later Mace wakes up to find Arlie eating breakfast as Micah makes tea in the kitchen, he looks questioningly at his Padawan who shrugs.

“He was here when I got up.” She tells him, he looks in dismay at the permanently open door and wonders why they don’t just take it off.

“Oh, finally Mace, I need to tell you both something.” Micah says sounding very excitable.

“What is it Mic?” Mace asks as he all but inhales the tea Mic gives him, Arlie drinks it at a much more sedate pace but raises an eyebrow at Micah as she does.

“I’m going to take a Padawan.  He’s the initiate that blew a hole in the crèche with the force.” Mic tells them, Mace drops his head onto the table, it was too early to deal with his friend’s particular brand of logic.

“How did that event make you decide he would make a good padawan?” Mace questions.

“Because he lied about it, I don’t know what actually happened but I do know that he lied to several different Jedi masters to protect his friend.” Micah tells them, Arlie remembers this story.  Bant had been punished three times already for scaring the crap out of people, several incidents had already occurred because of it.  She’d done it again resulting in Garen blowing up the crèche wall, he knew there’d be serious consequences for her this time so he lied and said he’d had a fit of rage.  No one had really believed him so he’d gotten in trouble for lying as well as the hole and the loss of emotional control.  Bant had never scared anyone again.  Micah never actually got told what happened that day, Arl hopes he does this time, years from now when they can all look back and laugh.  Assuming they are alive, abort train of thought, ABORT TRAIN OF THOUGHT!

“Certainly a good place to start working from.” Arlie muses, the two Jedi Masters look at her confused.  They are gradually getting used to her doing and saying weird shit but it had only been four weeks.  “Well Jedi are supposed to protect people, right?  A lot of thirteen-year-old kids wouldn’t have done that, it’s quite promising that he naturally wants to protect people because you have a solid grounding for further education and growth.  Plus, if he wants to protect people he has a good drive to do exactly as Jedi should.” She tells them, they both decide to stop being surprised when she pulls this crap.

“Hang on how did you know how old he was?” Micah asks, Arlie is unsurprised but still impressed when she doesn’t miss a beat.

 “I’m a council padawan Master, I know as much about what happened as you both do.” She replies matter of factly.

“Fair point.” Micah replies.

“Well it sounds like it’ll be one hell of a… training… bonding…” Mace says stumbling as he can’t think of the correct word, Arlie bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling before opening her mouth.

“A hell of a padawanship indeed.” She says.

“Oh padawanship, I like that.” Micah jumps on board immediately.

“Arlie why do you have to give him ideas?” Mace whines, Arlie is struck with a sudden and intense feeling of longing and homesickness.  She loved it here but it wasn’t the same, she wants her family back even though she knows she doesn’t have them in her future anyway.  She just couldn’t accept that she’d never see them again.  Though if she learnt one thing from her other life it’s that if she can’t accept something, she may not need to.  After all, Xanatos had died while on her side, he was the first thing she had had trouble accepting her entire life despite everyone telling her she had to.  No, she would not give up hope, she would see them again someday, she knew it.

 

Later that day they went through the ceremony as before and then went to meet the new Padawan.

“Congratulations Padawan Muln.” Mace says, he knows who Garen is this time since he was involved with the crèche hole incident instead of taking care of her.

“Thank you Master Windu.” He replies bowing respectfully.

“Garen this is Master Windu’s Padawan, Arl Aa.” Micah introduces, the Padawan’s bow to each other.

“That’s a pretty name.” He tells her, she smiles fondly at him glad he still likes the name he gave her.

“Thank you Padawan Muln.” She replies, he smiles.

“Please, call me Garen.”

“Arl.”

“What do you think Arl?” Mace asks, looking up she realises that she and Garen missed part of a conversation.

“Sorry, would you please repeat the question?” Arlie requests, Micah smirks while Mace gives her a patient smile that makes her want to throttle him again.

“Mic was inviting us to their place for the welcoming dinner.  Qui-Gon, some initiates, Master Tahl.” Mace tells her.

“And Xanatos, no Dooku though.  He was invited but it’s not really his kind of thing.” Micah tells them.

“You’re relieved about that aren’t you?” Arlie whispers though it’s more statement than question.

“A little bit, he always puts me on edge.  Couldn’t exactly invite Xan without his Master though, I still can’t believe they did that.” Mic says not looking disapproving but surprised.

“You do have to admit though that Xan is doing extraordinarily well since the change.” Mace says, “And Dooku isn’t so bad.”

“Yes, I heard you guys were spending a lot of time with those three, something about raucous laughter in the commissary.” Mic says smiling, he might not have gotten on well with Dooku but he was glad the man was socializing and that Qui-Gon was getting along with his Master.

“He has some interesting stories.  I don’t think I’ll ever see Corellia the same way.” Mace says with a smile, Arl snickers.

 

That night Arlie and her Master arrive slightly late.

“Did you forget how to knock on a door since you never use yours?” Micah teases after Garen led them inside.

“Why would we be knocking on our own door anyway?” Arlie asks as he pulls her into a hug.

“Fair point, but you should still use your door.”

“And you should use your head.” Arl says earning a tug on her braid from him as he smiles at her.

“Master Tahl, this is Padawan Aa.” Mace introduces as Tahl walks over.

“Master.” Arl says bowing.

“Padawan, a pleasure to meet you, Mic and Qui have told me a lot about you.”

“Well I promise I’m actually a nice person no matter what they’ve said.” Arl tells her with a smile that is reflected back at her.

Later, after being introduced to all the initiates and once again having the most awkward introduction ever between Xan and Garen, Arlie sees Bant watching Tahl look out the window.

“You should go talk to her.” Arl tells Bant who looks at her in surprise.

“What would she want to talk to me for?” Bant replies sadly, Arl smiles at her.

“Well, if your worth your friend taking sole responsibility for the crèche hole incident, I think your worthy of talking to your idol.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I know a lot of things I shouldn’t, but don’t worry, my lips are sealed.  You should still talk to her.”  Bant bites her tongue before nodding.

“Yeah, you’re totally right.” Bant says before walking over to the Master in question and starting up a conversation.

“What is it with you and getting people with their correct Master?” A voice says behind her, she turns to face him.

“Hello Saviour.” She tells him, it both hurting and feeling wonderful to say, she knew no amount of meditation would get rid of that and she wouldn’t want to.

“Hello Arlie.” He replies smiling gently.

“How is your padawanship going?” She forgot that that’s no longer a common term.

“Padawanship?”

“There was no correct term so I made one.” He smiles.

“Is there any problem you can’t solve?” He asks as he leans against the wall beside her, she smiles.

“A great many I’m afraid, but unsolvable problems just mean more growth, nothing is truly unsolvable.  Some things just require more to be learnt.”

“Has anyone ever mentioned that you sound like Yoda except talking to right way around?”

“It has come up in conversation.” The two laugh at that, Arl smiles as she sees Garen coming up holding drinks for the three of them.

“So, anyone else noticed Obi and Master Jinn talking in the corner there.” He asks, Xan looks over surprised, Arlie just sniggers into her cup.

“I’m getting the feeling that Tahl and I are not the only ones receiving your particular brand of help.” Xanatos says looking at her accusingly she smiles innocently.

“I think they’ll be good for each other.” Garen says.

“That’s if he takes him as his Padawan.” Xan points out, “I hope he does, Master Dooku and I have a mission in three days and I’ve been a little concerned about leaving Master Qui-Gon alone.  I think he’s lonely.”

“Think there’s anything we can do to help them along?”  Garen asks, Arl is quite impressed with how well the two are getting along.  It’s an odd group, an eighteen-year-old senior Padawan, a thirteen-year-old new Padawan and a seven-year-old Padawan new to the entire order, but so long as neither fall again she’s not caring how it looks.

“We can’t interfere.” Arlie says earning two accusing looks. “More than I already have, I got them talking.  They need to make the decision just as Bant and Master Tahl do.  Just as you had to Xan, all I did was start the conversation and give my opinion.”

“Yes, but your opinion is always right.” Xanatos says with Garen nodding in agreement, Arl thinks it’s odd that she and Garen only met today.  She didn’t notice the first time around but they’re already acting like they’ve known each other for years and thinking back they did when she first met him as well.

“Yes, well that’s beside the point.” They are quiet for a moment as they watch the two pairs talking happily.

“So, I can’t help but notice you avoiding Bellan and Reeft.” Garen says, she fights back a wince, “Do you not like them or something?”

“It’s not that, they just remind me of two people I used to know and had a very bad experience with.  But that is not their fault and I do realise that, it just caught me by surprise.” Garen and Xanatos exchange looks over her head that they think she doesn’t notice. “Point is, I’m not holding it against them and will endeavour to not avoid them.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Garen says, the two smile at each other making Xanatos frown, Arlie recalls something one of her Masters once said to her.

_“I used to watch the way you, Garen and Xan would interact and laugh, we knew then that one day something would happen between either you and Garen or you and Xan, Mace just refuses to see it happening._ _”_

_“I was 8! How could Xan have thought of me that way at all?_ _”_

_“He wasn_ _’t an idiot, he could see past your physical age and knew there was more within, that_ _’s what he cared for._ _”_

(I think I can see where he was coming from now. Gods I miss him, I never should have left Tatooine.)

_That face is haunting her, hunting her, it is her._ _‘You should never have come back!_ _’ She yells._

Arlie just stops herself from hyperventilating as a flash of her dream fills her mind. (Gods dammit I was really hoping that would stop.)

Three days later Arlie was in the hanger seeing off Dooku and Xanatos, honestly terrified.  This was the mission that Xanatos fell on, what if Dooku made it worse? What if he straight up kills Xan when Qui-Gon couldn’t?  What if nothing she has done was enough to save him?

“Arlie!” Xan calls as he jogs over, by the look on Dooku’s face Arl knows he’s gonna get a talking to about the un-Jedi like action.

“Hey saviour, Hello Master Dooku.” She says bowing to Dooku before hugging Xan.

“Greetings Padawan, somehow I am not at all surprised you came to see us off despite the council meeting.” Dooku says, Arlie smiles sweetly but with a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Masters Windu and Giiett are stalling for me.  It’s Garen’s first meeting so I have to be there.” She explains holding back the eye roll at Xanatos’ scowl.

“Well, we best not hold you up then, come along padawan.” Dooku says before bowing to Aa, receiving a bow in return and then boarding the ship that will take them to Telos IV.

“Good bye Arlie, wish us luck.” Xan says pulling her in for another hug, she holds him tightly willing herself not to cry.  This would. Not. Be. Goodbye.

“No matter what happens out there Xan remember that we all care for you and need for you to come home.” Arl whispers to him, he strokes her hair for a moment before she steps back and smiles, “Good luck Xan.” She says bowing, he smiles and bows back.  As the ramp closes behind him Arl starts freaking the fuck out as she’s hit with the familiar feeling of finality, he would fall, again and she could do nothing to stop it.

She rushes at force enhanced speed to the council chamber stopping just outside the door and walking in calmly.  Without a word, she moves over to her place on the wall and smiles encouragingly at Garen.  She spends ten minutes freaking out internally and scolding herself for being an idiot.

(Why the fuck did I think it was a good idea to leave them to figure it out? Now he’s going to fucking fall again and it’s all my fault, gods Dooku’s gonna kill Xan.  Maybe his father won’t be murdered, oh shit of course he’s going to be fucking murdered he’s a fucking douche. Gods dammit I’m gonna lose my saviour, my friend again.  Xanatos is going to fall again and this time he might not come back. Why couldn’t I just fucking leave well enough alone! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck Xan’s gonna fall.)

 ** _“XANATOS IS GOING TO WHAT!?_** ** _”_** Mace yells through their bond making Arlie wince and immediately shield the bond, she relaxes and un-shields just enough to talk to him but not enough that he can get anything from her that she doesn’t chose to give him.

 ** _“Master, our bond has strengthened!_** ** _”_** Arl says faking enthusiasm, it’s not at all believable.

 ** _“Arlie what are you talking about? Xanatos falling? What?_** ** _”_** He says trying not to panic. Arl mentally takes a deep breath.

**_“I_ ** **_’ll explain later just get through this meeting._ ** **_”_ **

The second the meeting ends, Mace grabs Arlie by the back of her collar and gently herds her forwards, booking it out of the chamber and to their quarters.

“Okay what the hell is going on, Arlie?” Mace demands the second they get inside, Arlie closes the door with the force startling her master.

“Are you sure you want to know? Because what I have to say cannot be unheard.” She warns knowing she had to tell him the truth.  Clearly, she could not handle this on her own.  Thankfully, he actually thinks about it before nodding.

“I’m sure.” She sits down on the floor in front of the couch, he joins her as she takes a deep breath and debates how to begin. She eventually decides that the beginning is usually the best place to start a story.

“When I was five my owner sold me, I handed my baby brother over to my mother and said good bye.” She says swallowing down the hatred she feels thinking of that day, Mace shivers as he feels the cold, hard hatred she feels. “Two years later my owner’s ship was attacked by who I thought were pirates. I was locked in a small dark room and left there.” It’s panic she feels when thinking of that room as she always does.

_Dark, and cold, why is it always so cold? She thought she melted this room to pieces but somehow she_ _’s trapped in it again, She just wants to go home._

Luckily, she knows that this part of her dream has already occurred, when she was first brought back.  She shudders at the memory of finding herself once more in that room.  “I don’t know how long I was in there before this swirl of blue light erupted from the dark.  A voice came through telling me to enter, I figured it couldn’t be worse than pirates so I did.  That’s where I met my mentor, the one who trained me to use force-magic.  Then we were attacked by something, I still don’t know what, and she sent me to another universe to protect me.  The force didn’t exist there except in me so whenever I practiced force-magic I had to channel the force through myself, the power I used intertwined with my very being and it’s why my eyes are purple, they glow when I push an immense amount of energy through myself.  Anyway, I spent ten years on a planet called Earth before finally being brought back by my mentor.  A month later Xanatos and Qui-Gon showed up and rescued me, brought me back here.  I met you and became your padawan.  You trained me, raised me to knighthood.  I was knighted when I was thirteen, Garen and I spent the next seven years as partners, at twenty I took Mic’s place on the council when he decided it was time to step down.  Then there was a war, then the war ended and we lost.  Boy did we lose big time.  Twelve years after it ended I died, except I ended up back in the room on the pirate ship.  Three days later Xan and Qui show up again and bring me here, you were here for the rest of it.” Mace is quiet, sitting beside her with wide eyes.

“And Xan fell on this mission?” Mace asks, Arl is honestly surprised that that is his first question but she runs with it.

“Yes, except Dooku wasn’t his Master the first time, Qui-Gon was.”

“Which is why you got them to switch?”

“No, I was just trying to get Xan into a better place, I wasn’t expecting them to switch his master.  At first I thought it was great, but then I realised Xan’s father being killed is what tipped him over the edge last time, if Dooku is there when that happens instead of Qui-Gon, Xanatos will die.”

“If he were darkened Qui-Gon should have killed him the first time anyway.” Mace says Arl sighs.

“I did not miss the black and white binary thinking of pre-war times. Look the problem is not Qui, it’s Dooku.  He is either fallen or falling and I don’t just mean he did in the future, I can tell trust me.  He was involved with some very bad people in the future and I don’t know whether or not he is now but either way if Xanatos falls he is in deep shit.”

“Well yes, he’ll have fallen.  That generally equals deep shit.”

“Falling isn’t always permanent Winni!” Arlie exclaims, Mace looks mildly amused.

“Why do I feel like we’ve had this conversation before?” She gives a startled smile at that.

“Because we have, future you was quite obstinate about it, then Jedi started falling frequently during the war and nearly all came back.  He couldn’t really refute my point after that.”

“So, if it was during the war that that started happening, why did you think it possible before that?”

“Because anyone can make a choice. And because the lines between fallen and unfallen change depending on the perspective of those judging them.  For instance, there were only two people I ever called fallen.  Whereas Yoda called everyone but he and I fallen at one point or another.”  Mace rubs his hands over his face in frustration.

“Why did he never consider you fallen if he did everyone else?”

“Because I never fell, at least not during the war. I embraced a lot of hatred as I died so I imagine I may have fallen had I continued living.  Although, given that I ended up back here and still hate everything I hated then, I suppose I may still be.” He’s quiet for a moment as he mulls over that.

“Okay, well, there’s nothing we can do at this point but wait and hope he doesn’t fall or die.”  They are both silent for a few moments that seemed to drag on endlessly until, “Want to go spar?”

“Yeah.” Arl replies quickly.

 

A few hours later Mace and Arlie head back to their quarters.

“I feel better now that I know I’m not losing to a seven-year-old Jedi Padawan of five ish weeks.”

“I may be a forty-eight-year-old Jedi Master but you trained me and I beat you the first time we sparred anyway.  Not to mention I still have the body and strength of a seven-year-old and you’re dealing with the only force-sensitive in the universe that hates the force and thus avoids use of it in a fight unless absolutely necessary.”

“You’re a Jedi master, how can you hate the force?” Mace asks incredulously as they exit the elevator.

“It brought me back here because it wants to be saved and I have no interest in saving it. All I want to do is save my family, and fix the order.  The fact that that may also save all of reality has no bearing on my decision to do so. I’d have rather it just let me die honestly.” Mace regards her with a worried expression for a moment.

“How did you die?” She stops moving and looks at him debating what to say, it still surprised her that he’d just accepted all this as truth and run with it.

“I tried to jump off of a building, stepped off of the ledge and onto the floor of the trade federation ship.” She says deciding not to tell him which building, for his sake and for hers.

“You tried to kill yourself?!” He asks alarmed as he quickly pulls her into his arms, she smiles as she hugs him back and soothingly rubs his back.

“I had watched someone I loved very much, maybe more than anyone else I had left, be murdered by the thing I hated more than anything, then some very bad shit happened, I don’t even know how long that lasted, but sufficed to say in the end, I just wanted release.” She says the bit about the murder coming out dark and angry as she thinks of Vader.  He was not her brother, he was the thing that took her brother from her.

“You seem to hate a lot of things.” He says sounding concerned as he pulls back.

“I do, last time I didn’t hate anything, I thought it was a waste of energy.  Then things changed and I got pushed well beyond every limit I had and I hated it, hated so much, the war, the one who started it, the force, the Jedi, anything I could think of to blame, but the thing I hated most, actually more than the one that killed my love, is the day I left my mother and brother on Tatooine.  That’s the day everything started and I hate it more than I knew anyone was capable of hating anything.” She says seething as she fights to keep her shields up so passing Jedi don’t feel it.  The only reason they weren’t hearing the conversation was because she was creating an aura that projected feelings of everything being okay to everyone around her but her Master, just as she had in club X many, many years ago.

“That, my dear Padawan, is called the dark side.  You were right, you are fallen.” Mace says with tears in his eyes.

“So, what are you going to do?” She challenges as she crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.  He smiles kindly.

“I’m going to help bring you back, just as we will help Xanatos if given the chance.  Because if this is what a fallen Jedi looks like, then killing them all is a serious over reaction.” Arlie smiles at him.

“Look at that, Jedi can evolve.”

 

The next night neither Mace nor Arlie slept.  They waited on the floor in front of the couch looking out of the balcony window and hoping no comm chimed.  Then it did and they both knew, they just knew.

They headed down to the emergency meeting, Mace grabbing Arlie’s hand and keeping her by his side.  Everyone was trying to work out what was going on, Micah told them Dooku had requested the meeting immediately upon his return.  Garen stood against the wall looking nervous as hell, she felt she should be standing on the wall with him however she was glad when Mace just kept holding her hand.  She stood by the side of his chair, dread pooling in her stomach as Dooku walked in, sans Padawan.  She and Mace held their breath hoping beyond hope he wouldn’t say what they both knew he would.

“Xanatos has fallen.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The council erupted into chaos as they had last time but Arlie merely smiled a small smile of acceptance, she had seen this coming after all, but this time she had done something to try and stop it, had done many things.  He had learnt shielding, she had taught him to rethink his views on the force, had given him a Master that he worked better with, it was not her fault that none of it helped, she knew this now.  She squeezed her Master’s hand reassuringly, he gave her a sad smile but there was a spark in his eyes that gave her hope.  If Xanatos was alive they would save him, or try to at least. (Do or do not, there is no try.) She thinks wryly.

“Arlie?” Garen whispers brokenly over all the noise, Adi starts weeping and Micah guides his padawan into his lap as before while he looks worriedly at Arlie.

“Master Dooku, perhaps you should tell the council exactly what happened?” She suggests in her ‘Jedi Master surrounded by calm serenity’ voice.  Most looked more worried at her response, Yoda merely looked proud.  She was certain that the other Master had suspicions about her but she seriously doubted ‘from a distant future and also another universe and also a place that doesn’t exist.’ Had popped into his little green head yet.

“His father was murdered in front of him, he fell and attempted to go after the perpetrator. I stopped him, he did not like that.  I attempted to follow the code however he performed a move that I believe Padawan Aa taught him, I did not know how to counter it and as a result he got away.” Dooku tells them, several pairs of eyes look to Arlie.

“Oops.”

“One of your closest friends falls to the dark side, uses a move you taught him to get away, and all you can say is ‘oops.’?” Master Koth asks incredulously.

“Well I wasn’t counting on him using the move against Dooku when I taught it to him.” She defends, Mace drops his head into his hands not even bothering with propriety.

“We need to find him.” Mace points out to steer the conversation away from his padawan.

“Yes, follow the code we must.” Yoda tells them all, Mace deliberately plays up his horrified look as he turns to Yoda.

“I meant so that we can help him, he’s eighteen and he just watched his father be murdered.  He needs our help not us murdering him as well.  We are supposed to be the ones there to protect him and be there for him through difficult times, he needs our support right now.” Mace tells them looking specifically at the troll.

“Mace, the code exists for a reason, the fallen cannot be saved.” Adi says quietly with a voice full of despair.

“Someone once told me that the Jedi are kin, that we are supposed to look out for each other.  Are you really going to kill your own family?  He’s just lost his dad, don’t make him lose us too.” Arlie says playing up the broken hearted seven-year-old façade.  The council look to each other, none sure what to say in the face of a child’s grief, especially when her words make sense.  Arlie used to hate Yoda for manipulating his friends, now she’s older and can understand that sometimes it’s for the greater good. They call a break with plans to reconvene tomorrow, Arlie and Mace immediately head back to their quarters unaware that Micah and Garen are following albeit at a more sedate pace.

“How you doing?” Mace asks looking concerned, she bites back a sneer.  It’s not him she’s angry at, she’s just angry in general these days and the longer that goes on the harder it is to work around it.

“I’ll deal with that later. Something has just occurred to me.  Fallen Jedi’s eyes don’t go yellow.  The yellow is the Sith and it comes from what the Jedi would call corruption.  Little Obi once said that Xan’s eyes were yellow.  He saw them go blue again when Xanatos fought through it, but if his eyes were yellow that means he was corrupted by something or someone.”

“Hey on, did you say Sith?  Why do you know so much about the Sith?” Mace asks remembering her mentioning them before.

“Too much time researching with Dooku and way too much experience.  That’s not the point, okay wait no I’m jumping too far ahead, okay.  So, there’s this Sith named Darth Sidious, he allies himself with the Trade Federation at some point, I believe it may have already happened.  In any case, about a month before the war started, a group of us started putting several pieces of a puzzle together and realized who the Sith was, but more importantly began thinking that he may have been targeting me.  One of the things that was mentioned was Xanatos, I thought nothing of it at the time, just another piece of evidence.  But what if he was more connected than we thought?  What if he was corrupted by Sidious after he fell?” Mace blinks several times.

“Sith?” He asks again sounding lost.

“Yes, get with the program Winni, that Sith started the whole blasted war and tricked everyone, well, almost everyone.”

“That Sith, meaning there’s more than one?” Mace asks, Arlie rolls her eyes.

“You are focusing on the wrong thing Winni!” Arlie yells frustratedly, he continues to look questioningly at her, she sighs, deflating, “Yes, I have come across three Sith in my time.  Sidious, Tyranus and V-Vader.”

“Vader killed the one you loved, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did, he killed him, and destroyed my brother, tore apart his fucking soul and ruined everything he had ever done.” Arlie snarls loudly before taking a deep breath and reigning in her anger again.  “Sorry.”

“At some point, we really need to work on your whole fallen issue.” Mace tells her with a concerned look.

“I really hate it when you look at me like that.”

“So, stop giving me reason to.” She pokes her tongue out at him. “Forty-eight-year-old Jedi Master and still about as mature as a seven-year-old.” Someone clears their throat from the doorway, Arl and Mace whip around and see Mic and Garen standing there looking equal parts bewildered and horrified, they had left the door open…

“So, to recap, Sith, fallen Arl, forty-eight-year-old Arl, war, and did I mention Sith?” Micah summarises as he walks in and shuts the door guiding Garen over to the couch.

“You missed time travelling Jedi Master/General.” Arlie adds, Mace glares at her, “What? It’s too late to get out of it.”

“Okay wait, so not only is Xanatos fallen but you are too? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell anyone? What is this about a Sith and war and weird ages and I’m sorry did you say time travel?” Garen asks quickly.

“Okay long story short, lived this all before.  Grew up in the temple, got knighted, Sith killed a Jedi Master, I joined the council, war broke out, bad shit happened, a couple of Sith revealed themselves, we lost the war, then I died.  Somehow, I blame the fucking force, I ended up back on the pirate ship and decided to try and prevent certain events.  This was one of them, I failed.  Also, it was four Sith Mace, I forgot Maul.  Lord knows how I did, but anyway.” Arl says summarising things.

“Somehow that summary gave them more information than your full explanation gave me.” Mace tells her.

“Well I purposely left Sith out of yours.”

“Oh my gods you two, forget the summaries, if this, Sidious has Xanatos in his clutches then we need to save him.” Micah tells them incredulously, Arlie finally realises why Mace so easily accepted things before, why Micah is now, they trust her.

“We may not need to, Obi-Wan got through to him last time, lied to everyone and said Xan had died afterwards because they both knew he wouldn’t be allowed back.  All we have to do is make it so that he can, then Obi has a chance of being able to convince him to come home.  Assuming they are ever even in that situation.  If his reasoning is the same then Xan is going after Dooku this time not Qui.”

“Then what do we do?” Garen asks.

“Well it’s simple.  We assign Qui-Gon, and Dooku to the same mission when it comes time for when Obi to ran into Xan.” Micah suggests.

“Won’t work, Dooku will change things too much, Obi and Xan won’t have the chance to talk alone.” Arlie informs them.

“So, what if we just sent Obi-Wan and Dooku?” Mace asks.

“After what just happened do you think Master Jinn is going to trust Master Dooku with another of his Padawan’s?” Garen replies.

“What if we sent Arlie with Dooku?” Micah suggests while looking at Arlie like she held the key to the universe.

“Why?” Mace asks as it seemed to come from no where.

“Well, we say that you want her to have some more field experience since you spend most of your time in temple.  Dooku and Arlie work well together and I’m sure she can convince him to take her, she seems to be able to convince anyone of anything.” Micah explains.

“Someone once called that my ‘Ice to a Hothian’ mode because they were convinced I could sell ice on Hoth and have the natives actually buying it.  Can’t remember who started that but it stuck for thirty years.” Arlie reminisces fondly, they all kind of smile of chuckle a bit at the thought.

“It’s weird hearing those words come out of a child’s mouth.” Micah says, “Anyway, you end up in the situation that Obi was in and bring Xan home.”  They all nod in agreement.

“It’s a solid plan, but which mission is it?” Mace asks.

“The Telos IV bombings, Xanatos wanted revenge on the planet as well and he figured it would gain the Jedi’s attention.”

“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do.  For now, we just need to get the council to agree to helping Xanatos instead of killing him.” Micah tells them.

“Are there any other big events we should be worrying about specifically Arlie?” Garen asks.

“In six years the Trade Federation is going to put a blockade around Naboo, completely legally, except for the Sith behind it.  Qui and Obi are sent to negotiate, crap happens, the Sith sends his apprentice to deal with them, he fails, he tries again, he kills Qui-Gon and is then killed by Obi-Wan.” She tells them.

“Any ideas on how to prevent that?” Micah asks as Mace runs his hands over his face.

“Well I figured I have six years to train the two to fight better.  I’ll find an excuse, get them up to snuff and then they’ll take him out when they first meet him on Tatooine instead of facing him on Naboo.”

“And if the Sith Master sends Tyranus or Vader?” Mace asks but Arl is already shaking her head.

“He can’t send Vader, he’s nine and perfectly fucking innocent.” She bites out before taking a moment to compose herself. “and Tyranus is either still a Jedi or undercover as one.  Either way he won’t be sent.”

“Tyranus was a Jedi? Wait, what does undercover mean?” Garen asks, Arlie sighs out loud for that one.

“It means he’s pretending to be one but I don’t know if he is or not.”

“Who?” Mace asks in a hard voice. Arl hesitates before deciding to just say it.

“Dooku, yet another reason he was the last person Xan should have been with for this mission, for god’s sake he’s the one that killed him and all because he wanted to make a point to me!” Arlie says yelling the last part before turning and punching a hole into the wall, then she freezes as she realises what just happened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” She says before using Force-Magic to repair the wall. “Thing is though, Dooku tried to warn me and clue me in several times to several different things I just didn’t have the information to put it all together or I got distracted and stuff. I don’t even know whose side Dooku was on but whatever the reason he killed many Jedi, many troops, many civilians.  He led the other side of the war at Sidious’ order.  It doesn’t matter much why.”

“Okay so, training them should solve that, moving on to the next topic of conversation, you being fallen.” Micah says looking at her warily, she expects that has less to do with fear and more concern for her and confusion.

“Depends on your definition of ‘fallen’, some may say I just have anger issues.”

“It’s not the anger Arlie, it’s the seething hatred you have for just about everything.” Mace tells her.

“WELL IT’S NOT MY FAULT EVERYTHING WENT TO COMPLETE SHIT!” She screams at him, the three guys look at her with varying degrees of worry and wariness.

“This is the thing about the dark side Arlie, the longer you are in it the harder it is to leave.” Mace says carefully, she narrows her eyes at him.

“What would you now about the dark side, Jedi?” Arlie says to him venomously.

“My mother was once married to someone whose entire being was dripping with darkness. He was the most vile man I have ever met and I had to deal with him frequently because he was my brother’s father.  He was incredibly force-sensitive and used it when beating my brother.  It never stopped amazing me that from that man came a boy whose midichlorian count was literally 8 and is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, so yes Arlie, I know darkness and I know anger and I know that the longer you dwell in it the angrier you get.  You need to let us help you.” Mace pleads, Arlie realises she’d taken up a battle stance and steps out of it as the anger fades from her eyes.

“I know you do, and I know all about what happened with your brother, I’m sorry.  Wait, Sheev’s midi count was 8?” Arlie asks incredulously, remembering what Qui-Gon and Xanatos had said about the force-null politician Sheev Palpatine.

“At birth yeah, why?” Mace asks blinking at the sudden change of topic and demeanour.

“That’s impossible, that’s as force null as you can fucking get.  That can’t be right.” She says, how could such a powerful Sith Lord be a force null when he used it near constantly?

_“It was far too blinding for me to see who exactly was involved, but there’s an unnatural amount of darkness there, even for the events that took place.  Someone was being controlled through the dark side, maybe even possessed.”_

“Oh shit. Vos was right.” Arlie says.

“Knight-Elect Vos?” Micah asks confused.

“Oh, he’s doing his trials? That’s great.  And no, future Knight Vos, look I once sent Vos to look into what happened the night Lorna died, see if he could find evidence.  For reasons I will explain at a later date, it was really important that the perpetrator be arrested.  He couldn’t find proof but did know who had done it, we already knew that as well.  He also found evidence of someone being controlled through the dark side, said it might have even been possession but he couldn’t see who.” Arlie says remembering just in time that Mace had no idea Sheev had killed Lorna because Obi hasn’t told him yet.

“What does this have to do with anything?” Mace asks impatiently.

“Because the one that did it was the Sith and I think he may actually be innocent and being controlled.” Arlie tells them hating every second of it, the last thing she wanted was for Sheev fucking Palpatine to be innocent.

“What does that have to do with my brother’s midichlorian count?”

“Oh gods.” Micah says as he catches on, “He did it didn’t he, Sheev, your brother, he was the Sith?”

“Yes, but like I said, I think he may have been being controlled possibly.” She says hesitantly, she didn’t want to make her Master deal with this, but she had decided transparency was her only hope now. Mace stares at her.

“That would mean Sheev killed Lorna.”

“In the future, your eldest nephew tells you the truth about what he saw that day, he saw his father killing his mother and threatening he and his siblings.  That’s all we knew at that time, now there’s a chance he’s innocent.  So, hold onto that hope because if so, we have one more person we need to save, and we _will_ save him.” Mace looks dazed but nods.

“Yes, we will.” He replies.

“Okay couple of questions, number one, when we do save him, will Sheev remember killing his wife? And number two, how do we help you uh…unfall…?” Garen asks, everyone exchanges looks not sure of the answer to either question.

“And how do we save Sidi, um, Sheev, who is controlling him and why?” Arlie adds.  They are all quiet for a while.

“Much as I hate to say it, we have six years before the Sith stuff is really set in motion…” Micah begins to say.

“Actually sixteen, after Maul there’s no Sithly experiences for a decade.” Arlie interjects.

“Okay so for the next sixteen years we have a plan, save Xan, train Qui and Obi.  We also have time to plan for everything else.  The more immediate problem is the council relenting about killing Xanatos, and Arlie’s darkness.” Micah finishes.

“Hey I’m not dark! I may not be light because hatred and shit but I’ve never used the force in a dar…oh wait does attempting to disintegrate someone at a molecular level count even if they’re a Sith?” Arlie asks.

“I mean my first instinct is yes but for the sake of argument what was your reasoning behind it, or was it simply, ‘because he’s a Sith’?” Micah asks, Arlie goes to open her mouth before closing it again, gaining a sheepish smile and looking at her shoes.

“Upon reflection it may have sort of been about, um, rage filled revenge.” Arlie replies, the three just look at her jaws hanging open.

“Hey he broke my brother, he stormed the temple and killed everyone including the younglings, he killed all but four Jedi and a single padawan, he killed the love of my fucking life right in front of me and he refused to fight me!” Arlie defends growing angrier throughout.

“So now that we’ve established that yes, there is an amount of Darkness, what do we do?” Micah asks, Arlie huffs and sits on the coffee table as Mic and Garen sit on the couch in front of her and Mace in the armchair to her left.

“Oh, what an odd situation, the Jedi don’t know what to do.” Arlie drawls sarcastically.

“You’re an ass when you aren’t in Jedi Master mode.” Garen tells her, she rolls her eyes.

“I think the bigger worry is how you keep saying Jedi as though you aren’t one of us.” Mace points out.

“I don’t live by the Jedi code, I think it’s stupid and I hate everything it stands for.  Especially given that technically speaking I should be put to death for using force-magic.  It’s not of the light side.  The fact that it isn’t of the dark side either has no bearing on the ruling.” Arlie points out.

“Then why be here?” Garen asks, “I mean I’m glad you are, but if you hate Jedi then why live in a temple full of them?”

_“I AM ONLY HERE BECAUSE ONE DAY MY BROTHER WILL BE AND THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO STAY CLOSE TO HIM.”_

_“I’D LET THE GALAXY BURN TO SAVE HIS LIFE, I AM NO JEDI!”_

_“THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE ARLIE?”_

_“The truth is, all I’ve ever wanted is to help people so, so teach me the ways of the Jedi, Master, I’m ready to listen now.”_

_“stay close to the Jedi and make sure they are willing to evolve.”_

_“I won’t fail my mentor, I swear it.”_

_“I know.”_

“Because I wanted to help someone save us all.  I failed once, I cannot fail again.”  Arlie says quietly.

“Why here though?” Garen presses further.

“I had this mentor, she was from the future.  She told me about how she learnt force-magic and I promised to help her.  She said to stay close to the Jedi and make sure they were ready to evolve, that I had about thirty years to do so.  Forty years later, counting my time spent on Earth, I fail so spectacularly that I fall to the dark side I didn’t even believe in most of my life and try to jump off of a kriffing building.”

“What does Kriff mean?” Garen asks innocently while Micah yells “WHY WERE YOU JUMPING OFF OF A BUILDING?!”

“I was not in a good place.”

“Which is what we need to work on so that, not only do you not jump off of anymore buildings, but you also are no longer vulnerable to the Sith.” Mace tells her.

“I am not vulnerable to the Sith!” She replies angrily.

“So, if you were offered the chance to beat the living shit out of everything you hate here, to get back at the Jedi and bring this temple and everything it stands for crumbling down around us, you wouldn’t take it?” Mace asks in an enticing voice, Arlie considers the question.

“It’d be a tempting offer but no I wouldn’t, I mean, wait, fuck.” She says, the others look at her concerned, “No you guys! I wouldn’t, but I am probably in a position easily manipulated into doing it.” She concedes, “So how do I go back to the light?” She asks saying the last word extremely sardonically.

“Well, first step is to let go of your hatred.” Mic begins to say.

“And I’ve failed.” Arl says.

“Arlie…” Mace begins to say but she cuts him off.

“No fuck that Winni! My burning seething hatred and anger is my only link to my old life.  I don’t want to let that go.”

“So you’re willing to screw up this one as well?” He replies instantly. “Arlie, you have other emotions tying you to your old life, your anger and your hatred are overshadowing them.  But I’ve seen you look back in fondness, amusement, and love.  Don’t let that all fall away.”

“Fine, how do I do this?”

They spend the rest of the night either meditating, talking through different topics, or getting yelled at by Arlie in a fit of rage as they try to work through her anger.  Eventually they move to sit on the floor leaning against the back of the couch and staring at the wall, or in Micah’s case the door which was oddly still closed from earlier.

That’s how they are when the door chimes.

“It’s just Tahl.” Arlie informs them, “She’s just heard about Xanatos and is coming to tell us how sorry she is, Adi will turn up at some point too.  I’ll make tea and get the door.” She then gets up and opens the door.

“Padawan Aa, I just heard, I’m so sorry.” Tahl tells her, Arl steps aside to allow her in leaving the door open out of habit.

“Please, have a seat with the others.  I was just making tea would you like some?” She asks sounding completely worn out and probably looking it too.  Considering how they had all spent the night they all look like zombies and Arlie thinks there is probably visible tear tracks on her face.  (I suppose that’s easily explained under the circumstances though.)

“I’d love one, thank you dear.” Tahl replies smiling kindly as she moves to sit opposite the others.

As was predicted Adi turned up a few minutes later and silently takes her seat creating a half circle as she did before with the tea in the middle.

“I um, I’ve decided to take Initiate Eerin as my padawan, assuming she agrees.”  Tahl informs them breaking the silence.

“She will, she really looks up to you, has read a bunch of your research papers in her spare time and referenced your work on more than one occasion in her course work.”  Garen tells her with a smile, “But please don’t tell her I told you that.”

“I won’t, though it is flattering.”  Tahl tells him, like before no one bothered with titles or ranks in this time, they were people grieving a lost friend. 

“I want you guys to know that I’m voting to try and help him.” Adi tells them before Arl can tell Tahl what Xan said.

“As am I.” Micah says making Arlie smile gratefully at him, she feels tears start rolling down her face as she starts thinking about what will happen if their plans fail, if all of them fail, she can’t go through that again.  Garen grabs her hand pulling her out of her own head, she smiles gratefully at him.  It was hard to believe really, that the boy before her could fall so far as to attack his own friends.  She had tried to get him to come back just as he now was trying to get her to, she wasn’t sure if that made her want to more or less.

“Xan mentioned to Garen and I during the celebration dinner that he thought you and Bant would make a good pair, he noticed during the dinner and from stories Garen told later that you two would work well together.” Arlie informed Tahl with a smile that showed the thought of her friend had not made her any sadder than she was, she wanted Tahl to know this, it was important that they remember he cared for them.

“Yeah but to be fair that was the same time he said…uh…nothing.” Garen stumbles awkwardly after glancing at both her Master and his own, the two Masters in question look at each other and their padawans in confusion, Arlie valiantly tries and then fails to hold back the eye roll.

“Smooth.” She says before cringing internally as she realises she’s quoting now too.

“Oh shut up asshole.” Garen replies instantly earning a few chuckles.

“Did you just call a seven-year-old an asshole?” Adi asks looking disapproving but there was a light in her eyes suggesting she thought it was hilarious.

“Okay first of all, she’s nearly eight, and second of all, she deserved it.” Garen defends, Arlie can’t remember exactly what he said last time but she’s pretty sure it had to do with eating his lightsaber, in any case, the change lifted her spirits, if only because any change was good change for now.

“She is sitting right here you know.” Arl tells him with a smile.

 

Later they head into the council chamber and stand/sit in their appropriate places collectively bracing themselves for the verdict.  Unsurprisingly Saesee and Yarael both vote in favour of murder or ‘following the code’ as they put it. Shaak Tiin and Ki-Adi-Mundi also vote for the code, Depa, Adi, Plo, Eeth, Even, and Yoda all voted to save, the last of which surprised everyone except Arl.

 ** _“Given your opinion of him I’m surprised you were expecting that.”_** Mace questions.

 ** _“He tried for a century to get the rules changed, he didn’t last time because no one would back him up but me and he didn’t see the point in dividing the Jedi, now he has the support needed.”_** Arlie explains, he seems satisfied with the answer.

“All right then, so assuming we find him, how do we help him?” Master Ti asks.

“We guide him in the right direction as we do troubled padawans.” Master Gallia tells them.

“That won’t work, if those teachings were going to help him he wouldn’t have fallen.” Master Mundi argues.

“Maybe he just needs a reminder?” Master Koon offers weakly.

 ** _“Tell them ‘Xanatos is grieving and made a mistake, he can’t think straight and now feels he has no home and no one to turn to.  All we have to do is be ready to be those people, everything else will fall in place as the force wills it to.’”_** Arlie tells her Master who repeats it word for word.

“I suppose that makes sense.” Master Poof begrudgingly accepts, Master Tiin merely grunts his agreement.

After the meeting, everyone moves off fairly quickly, Micah and Garen join Mace and Arlie back in their quarters.

“Where’d that come from?” Micah asks Mace who smiles proudly at his Padawan.

“From someone who could truly sell Ice to a Hothian.” Mace replies, Arlie snickers, Micah laughs.

“We still have a few problems you know.” Garen says from the kitchen where he is making himself a sandwich, Arlie is honestly very happy that Garen and Micah have all but moved in again.

“Such as?” Micah asks, he’s not sure when, but at some point, he began thinking of both Arlie and Garen as Jedi Knights or Masters and not as the Padawans at least one of them was.  He’s not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

“Well fo un.” He says around a mouthful of sandwich before indicating he’s going to finish it before continuing for which they are all relieved. “For one, how long until Obi would have met Xanatos? Also, we still have the problem of our friend over on the dark side there, but my biggest worry is how much damage Xan may do between now and then that could change the council’s mind.”

“A little over a year.” Arlie admits keeping a carefully blank face.  “Oh Master, you and your stupid protective instincts are just fanfuckingtabulous.” Arlie snarls as she begins to pace back and forth in an angry stalk.

“What have I done or not yet done now? Gods what is our lives.” Mace says as he runs a hand over his face.

“Well for one you’re developing a stress tick.” Micah adds unhelpfully before mimicking Mace’s movement, Mace scowls when he realises Mic is right.

“What you did is not want me to know about stuff involving Xan so I have no idea if he did anything throughout the year.  Either he didn’t or my Masters succeeded in keeping it from me which would not surprise me because they were devious little shits when working together.” Arlie says as she continues pacing.

“Masters?” Micah asks confused, Garen rolls his eyes.

“She means you genius.” Micah smiles happily at his Padawan’s words, both of them.

“Hey on wait, I saw him on my eighth birthday.  In the shopping strip, he was in an alleyway and we spoke.  That’s a month away, knowing he can come home, maybe when I see him I’ll be able to convince him to return.” Arl theorises.

“That’s assuming he shows.” Garen adds earning a glare, he puts his hands up in surrender as he continues, “I just mean that stuff has changed.  We’ve no way of knowing that he will show up until he does.”

“I think for the moment our biggest priority needs to be you Arl, you can’t help anyone in the state you’re in.  You say you’ve dealt with fallen Jedi before?” Mic asks, she nods while scowling, “Well, then you know where this path leads.” She nods again.

“Alright, letting go of my hatred right?” She asks, the others nod.

“I really wish we weren’t in a Jedi temple for this.” Micah says, Arl looks thoughtful.

“I can put shielding around the quarters so that they won’t feel anything in here?  It also means they won’t know anyone is in here.” Arl tells them, they exchange surprised looks but Mace nods for her to do so. “Done.” She says once she’s felt the energy cover the room.

“Okay then, easy starting point.  Arlie, what do you hate and why?” Micah asks, Mace rubs his hands over his face uncaring of the tick as several glasses in the kitchen shatter. “Or perhaps a slightly less direct approach?”

“Direct is good, everything at once probably not so much.  Let’s just start more specifically, Arlie, tell me about Vader.  Who is he?  What did he do? Why do you hate him and when did that start?” Mace tries, she seems even more angry and starts pacing again but nothing broke.

“He destroyed my brother’s soul and tore apart everything he’d tried so hard to build.  He came to the temple with a platoon that was supposed to be on our side and they slaughtered everyone inside, he personally slaughtered the younglings and then he saw me.  I came running in to help and he was standing over them, he told me he was sorry and walked away leaving me alive.  He knelt before the fucking Sith.  I hate him for taking my brother from me, I hate him for taking all of them from me, I hate him for leaving me alive that day, I hate him because he killed my love in front of me and because even afterwards he still wouldn’t fight me.  I hate that he survived when I tried to kill him and I hate that I survived after that.  I hate him so so much because, because…I love him so much it hurts.” Arlie finally says dropping to her knees and sobbing, the other three are quite confused though they rush over to her.  Mace wraps his arms around her as the other two put a hand on her leg/arm in support. “I love him and he betrayed me, he betrayed all of us.  I hate him because he was my brother, and he wouldn’t hate me too.” She says as she breaks apart.

“Oh Arlie.” Mace says his voice filled with anguish, her own brother did this.

“He-He killed his wife while she was pregnant with their twins.  But he wouldn’t fight me even when I said I wouldn’t fight back, not even when I directly threatened his life.  He killed his wife, thought he killed his kids, he caused my Master to die and he killed my best friend.  I gave up so much for him and he drove me to jump off of a fucking building.  I miss him so much and I love him so much and I want him back.  One day he’ll be here as well and I’ll have to face him, he’ll be young and innocent and done none of it but I’ll remember how he looked as he stood over a pile of Jedi bodies.  I’ll remember him killing my half-deranged friend.”  She looks at her master’s face as tears continue falling down hers, “I don’t want to become like my love did.  My brother, he became a Sith but my best friend, he fell.  His Padawan was killed by the same man that murdered Xanatos and he fell.  He attacked our people when they got in between him and his revenge.  I hate so much and it’s horrible.”  She tells them, they just continue to hold her.  Even as she remembers Mace’s death, Garen’s fall, and Micah on the farm they hold her grounding her to the here and now.  None of it happened and she would make damn sure it never did because there was something she could do far better than she could hate.  She could love.

 

 _“_ _You have the greatest capacity to love that I have ever seen in anyone, including the force.  Don_ _’_ _t ever lose that._ _”_ __  
  



	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Her eighth (actually forty-ninth) birthday they went to the shopping district, not just for Xanatos but also because she now needed the clothes again.  Arl immediately walked them to the store they had gone last time and picked up the brown jacket that Garen had found before.  It was her favourite jacket, after she had grown out of it Tahl had bought her another, then it was Obi-Wan, then Garen and Mace, then Micah and then Anakin.  She grew a lot but she always had the jacket.  Garen once again points out the pretty dress except this time Arlie doesn’t flush.

“I love it, thank you.” She says as she hugs him before adding the dress to the basket she still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten.  They went to a few different stores so that she didn’t end up with the same clothes as last time, Micah once again banned her from shades of brown so she got some coloured tunics. It occurred to her when Mic suggested lunch that she’d no idea what time they had gone to eat last time, she could miss Xan altogether!  However, she walked to the alleyway to go to the bathroom and there he was.

“Hello Arlie, long time no see.” He says as he did before, this time she is not afraid nor is she heartbroken, she throws herself forward to him.

“Xan, thank god I was so scared.” She says telling the complete truth, “Master Windu and I spoke with the council, they took a vote and they said you can come home.  That you won’t be killed or cast out, you’ll be welcomed back and you’ll be supported.” Arlie tells him, he shakes his head.

“You misunderstand the point of this visit Arl, I simply came to say goodbye, I didn’t want to leave things as they were.” He tells her, she smiles softly at him.

“I’m sorry about your father.  Judicial is doing what they can to catch the murderer, but this won’t help catch him and it certainly won’t bring your father back.  Please come home, you are wanted and loved and very greatly missed.  Qui-Gon is heartbroken, he blames himself.” She tells him, he glowers.

“I could have stopped him then and there if my ‘Master’ hadn’t stopped me!” He says fiercely, Arlie doesn’t even flinch.

“Xan please, listen to me, I just want to help you.” She tries reasoning with him, but he’s clearly beyond reason.

“I know you and Dooku are friends, but I will make my former Master pay for what he has done, and if you are with him, you will pay too.” He says just as he did before.

“Will it really make you feel better?  Because if so, why wait?  Kill me now.  Prove to me you are so far gone.  Give me a reason you won’t come back.  Because as far as I am concerned you are still my Saviour and you always will be.” He slaps her.

“I am nobody’s Saviour.” Obviously he garnered a lot of attention when he slapped her so he runs off as strangers crowd around her to make sure she’s okay, several tried to call judicial.  “Don’t worry about it, I’m fine.  I was just about to head back to the Jedi temple anyway.” She tells the strangers who see her lightsaber and back off, it made her happy that these strangers think Jedi and know that things will be taken care of.

“How’d it go?” Mic asks when she gets back to the table they’re at, she smiles sarcastically at him.

“It went fantastically that’s totally why I am here on my own and not with a recovered friend.” She says in a chirpy voice before it’s replaced with a scowl. Then she centres herself and gets her control back.  “Sorry, it did not work.  Basically, went the same way as last time except I didn’t completely turn my back on him and he knows he’s welcome back at the temple.”

“Which is a lot of difference because now it’s all on him, not you.” Mace tells her.

“Plus, if all goes to plan you can try again in a year and for whatever reason it seems like he’ll be more receptive to reasoning then.” Mic adds.

“Also, you have a bruise forming on your face.” Garen adds nonchalantly before realising what he’d said and seen and lurching forward in his seat. “Damn Arls, did he hit you?”

“Practically a love tap compared to things I’ve been through both in the future and already now.  Ugh I hate time travel.” She huffs, she’s sent disapproving looks from her Masters making her rethink her sentence, “I mean I dislike the complications time travel creates.” Arlie corrects, they smile.  Garen rolls his eyes at the two of them fondly while Arlie is pleasantly surprised to find that it’s true.  (I guess I can evolve too.)

 

It’s a year and a half later when Garen waltzes into Mace and Arlie’s living quarters while their Masters are busy with their work.  Arlie is lounging on the couch when he drops down next to her and lays down with his head on her lap and his feet over the arm rest, she automatically begins carting her fingers through his hair.

“What were we doing?” Garen asks, Arl looks at him confused, “Now, in the other…uh…timeline…sure let’s go with that, what were we doing in the other timeline right now?”  Arl thinks back.

“Um, it will have been nearly a year since I started actually listening to Mace and letting him teach me.  I believe it’s in a couple of days that Obi and Qui left for their mission to Telos IV.  So probably exactly what we are doing now except I imagine we were talking about something different.”

“Is it boring living this all again?”  Arl thinks about that for a moment.

“Day to day routines would be the same anyway.  And it’s not as though I remember everyday of my life, especially not those from thirty years ago.  But I suppose all the big changes and things that I made happen are no longer here.  All of my accomplishments are undone.  I just look at it as a chance to make it even better.”  She tells him, “Or at least, I’m beginning to.  Anyway, things are different this time and seeing as I’m not bothering to hide how advanced I am it’s very different from …the other timeline.”

“But you were advanced then too, I mean you were already ten years older than we thought.”

“Yes, but G, I’m forty-one years older than they think this time, those years had a hell of a lot of living and learning in them.  Plus, this time, I didn’t just spend time in another fucking universe, I know this world now and I know all the people here.  It’s never boring but sometimes it is hard, treating people as strangers or acquaintances when they were close friends, being nice to people who I did not at all get along with, being friends with people I once deeply loved.  I have learnt though, that the smallest things can change the way a person interacts with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well Yoda and I didn’t exactly get along last time.”

“Didn’t get along as in Obi and Bruck or didn’t get along as in Master Dooku and everyone?” Arlie chuckles at that.

“Didn’t get along as in I hit him in the head with his own gimmer stick two or three times.” She tells him, he laughs at that.

“Please gods tell me those stories.”

“I’m warning you, only one of them is happy and funny.”

“Tell me anyway, I like hearing your stories.  They’re like the old legends.  We apply them to our lives in order to avoid past mistakes, but we understand that times are different and don’t let the fear of what has happened influence how we deal with things now.” He tells her.

“Wow, I never thought I’d hear you be the logical one.” She replies.

“Just tell me.” He demands good-naturedly after hitting her, she obliges with a slight tug on his hair that really needed a trim.  As she spoke he occasionally asked questions but for the most part just soaked up what she was saying.

“You remind me of my Padawan sometimes.” Arlie tells him, he looks up at her in surprise.

“You had a Padawan?” she nods.

“Her name was Quilo Harril.  She was my Padawan for the last year of the war, afterwards she lived on Tatooine with me and Mic and my family for twelve years, then I died so I don’t know what happened after that.” She had yet to mention to any of them of her stay in this very temple before she died, she could spare them that at least.

“Is it still happening?  I mean are the people in that future still living it even though it hasn’t happened?”  Arl thinks through everything her mentor ever told her before nodding slowly.

“Time is more of a concept than an actual thing, we perceive things as happening linearly because that’s the only way we can process it, but it’s actually more like everything happening at once.  I mean that isn’t quite right either but it’s the best way to explain it.”  He looks confused.  “Okay so think of a map with a bunch of roads on it, if you pluck one car off of the road and put it on another moving in the same direction but from further back, do the cars from the first road stop?”

“What’s a car?”

“A transportation device from Earth.”

“Ahh, well, no, I suppose they wouldn’t.”

“It’s kind of like that in a way that it’s nothing at all like that and I’m just speculating at this point but that’s how I think it is sort of.”

“Okay, got it, I really need to learn when not to question things.” Arl laughs rather suddenly at that.

“Ah but Garen, the one that asks questions does not lose his way.”

“Why do I feel like you’re quoting something?” He asks as his face scrunches in confusion.

“I said that exact thing to my mentor in the in-between, that’s the response she gave.  I thought she sounded like she was quoting something as well so who knows where it started.”

“You mentioned your family, which I’m pretty sure means Kin,” She nods at his questioning look so he continues, “do you mean the lover you’ve mentioned before?” Garen asks curiously and a tad hesitantly.

“No, he was, well…we’d already lost him by that point.  But Mic had found my family, er, my Kin and gotten them back to an old farm my step-father owned.  Mic, Quilo, my mother, my step-father and my step-brother all lived there, and my nephew Luke.” Arl says with a smile.

“You have a nephew?”

“Well, had…but yes, and a niece.  Luke and Leia.”

“One of your brothers named their daughter Leia Aa?” Garen asks laughing, Arlie tugs on his hair playfully.

“No! But even if he had, quit mocking my niece’s name.” She replies with a laugh.

“Well if not Leia Aa then what was it?” Arl thinks for a moment.

“Well technically speaking her name was Leia Organa but, but her name was Leia Skywalker.”

“How come?”

“She was hidden after my broth…after her mother died.  Luke was hidden with us but Obi felt it was better if they were separated so Leia went to Alderaan.  She was adopted by the Queen and Senator so became Leia Organa.”

“And Skywalker is your brother’s last name?”

“Yes, our mother gave us her name since both of our fathers were assholes, I mean his way more so than mine but well, that’s a long story.” Garen sits up to look at her.

“So then, your name isn’t Arl Aa?” He asks, she looks at him incredulously for a moment before laughing so much it hurt.

“I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you I just hehehehe, I forgot that I’ve only ever gone by that name here hehehe.  See last time I haha um, I went by my birthname until you got drugged and *Clears throat* came up with Arl Aa. It was a way to avoid having two Master Skywalkers one day.” She explains, he looks dumbfounded.

“Then your name is Arl Skywalker?” He asks sounding utterly baffled.

“My name is Arleia Skywalker.” Garen looks at her wide-eyed for a moment before laughing.

“Arleia, Arl-Aa I get it ahahah, I’m an idiot but I’m kind of proud of my future self, or past self or whatever, for that one.” They both laugh for a while at that. “I gotta say though, I think Arleia Skywalker is just as pretty as Arl Aa.” She smiles kindly at him and receives a warm smile in return.

 

True to what Arl said, a few days later the mission to Telos IV came about, Mace and Arlie managed to get Dooku and Arl on the mission, with a bit of help from Micah of course.

“Padawan Aa.” Dooku says in the shuttle on the way to the moon.

“Yes, Master Dooku?” She asks, he had sounded rather serious, more so than usual anyway.

“Why does your Master allow you to hide many things and in some cases outright lie to both him and the entire council?” Arl was extremely surprised by the question, however she is far too disciplined to allow it to show.  She may lose her shit in the comfort of her own home, but out here is vastly different.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean Master Dooku.” She replies which would have been completely convincing if Dooku were not Dooku.

“Arl, you are a fully trained Jedi, of that there is no doubt.”

“Perhaps, Master Windu is a far better Master than you give him credit for.” She suggests innocently.

“You came to the order this way Aa.”  He deadpans, “You show very clear signs of having been trained by Master Windu but not all, there are some parts of your training that do not include his particular brand of…stoicism.  There are but three conclusions one can draw, either he did not take part in all of your training, or it has been a great many years since your training concluded and so you’ve adapted his teachings to better suit you as an individual Jedi Knight…no, Jedi Master.” He tells her, she smiles internally.

(This is why he’s my research partner.) she thinks before replying, “You said three conclusions but have only described two.”

“Yes, the third, is that both are true.” She sputters a laugh at that.

“So, tell me Master Dooku, how could any of the above be possible when I have been here a mere two years?” His brow furrows slightly, the only sign he ever gives when he’s thinking very deeply about a puzzle he is hellbent on solving.

“I suppose the obvious is that you are far, far older than you look.  But then how could that be possible?”

“How indeed.” She replies neutrally.

“You are enjoying my floundering far too much, it is unbecoming of a Jedi, Master Aa.” He tells her, she smiles slightly at that knowing he is teasing her.  Anyone else would be mortally surprised at the prospect of Dooku engaging in friendly teasing, but it is not so uncommon between the two.

“One could argue that floundering at all is unbecoming of a Jedi, however if this is your version of floundering I think an exception could be made.” She replies, his eyes light up for a moment before dulling again, his version of laughing.

“You are not going to tell me even if I do give you the correct answer, are you?” He asks, she smiles kindly at him.

“I’m afraid there is no mystery my friend, I’m simply a good student who is being trained by an exceptional Master.” She replies, he gives her a very unimpressed look that makes her bite back a laugh.  The conversation is over for now and she won this round, but she knows he won’t give up.

 

When they arrive on Telos IV Arlie begins to panic.

(What if he doesn’t show? What if I can’t convince him?  What if Dooku kills him anyway?  What if he does show but doesn’t knock Dooku out?)  as it happens, her worry was for nothing.  The moment they step onto the catwalks, she reaches out to the force and feels his presence, she waits patiently but not for long.  He appears and very quickly subdues Dooku using the element of surprise to his advantage brilliantly.  Honestly, if he were conscious, Dooku would have been very impressed with his Padawan, if also extremely pissed off at him. Xanatos moved forward, lightsaber ignited, to finish Dooku off.

“XAN STOP!  YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!?” she yells, she knows vaguely what Obi said last time, but Obi isn’t here right now.  This is her time to lose her shit at him.  “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PUTTING EVERYONE THROUGH AND FOR WHAT!? YOUR DAD IS DEAD AND THIS WON’T BRING HIM BACK.  DOOKU DIDN’T KILL HIM!  DO YOU REALISE WHAT THIS IS DOING TO QUI-GON? DO YOU REALISE WHAT IT’S DOING TO ME?!” She screams.  He stumbles, his eyes turning blue as he drops his lightsaber and starts walking backwards muttering as Obi had once described.

“He told me to, I didn’t mean to, I can’t fight it, have to stop it.  My god I hurt them, what have I done?  I can’t I can’t have to stop it, have to stop it.” His eyes flick to the acid tank, then back to Dooku and up to her. “Arlie…” he says sadly, “Tell Qui-Gon, just, tell him I’m sorry.” He says before moving to the edge of the platform.

“COWARD! YOU THINK THIS WILL MAKE ANYTHING BETTER? ALL YOU ARE DOING IS RUNNING AWAY FROM YOUR MISTAKES.”

“Arlie, I can’t stop this.” He tells her, looking very distressed as tears stream down his face, his eyes briefly flashing yellow before going blue again.

“Please Xanatos, I can’t do this without you, I need your help.  So please, be my saviour, just one more time.” She begs, he walks towards her and pulls her into a hug.  She sobs into his shoulder.

“You should have let me jump.” He whispers, she gets hold of her lightsaber and turns just in time to stop him from stabbing her in the back with his lightsaber that he called to him with the force.

The two begin duelling, her going easy on him since she doesn’t want to hurt him.

“You don’t have to do this Xanatos.”

“WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?!  LITTLE MISS FUCKING PERFECT, NEVER DO ANYTHING WRONG, NEVER SCREWS UP, ALWAYS RIGHT. YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” Arlie takes a deep breath as they fight.

“I know pain, anger, hatred and I know the darkside.  I have used it, I know what it is to be fallen, to want revenge and to hate those you also love.  I know what it’s like to be betrayed by the person you are closest to and I know what it’s like to have your entire fucking world torn down around you. I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO SEE THE ENTIRE GALAXY BURN! I KNOW DARKNESS, IT IS YOU WHO IS IGNORANT.” He stops fighting and looks at her.

“It’s different Arlie, he makes it different.” He whispers brokenly to her, then he flinches. “NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I DON’T WANT TO HURT HER!” Arlie’s eyes go wide.

“Sidious.” She whispers, Xan looks at her in surprise, unfortunately it distracted him and his eyes go yellow again. “Shit.”

“You know of my Master? That’s unfortunate, now I have to kill you.”  He doesn’t look at all remorseful about that, she had theorised that Sidious was influencing him somehow, she was not expecting this.

“He’s controlling you?” Arl asks.

“It’s so very easy to warp someone’s mind, to make it your own.” Xan answers with a smile that would have sent shivers down her spine had she not been so well-versed in Sith.  She thinks of her sweet little innocent brother and the vile creature he became, for the first time in a long time, she feels hope bloom.  She thinks of Sheev, of what Quinlan said about something dark controlling him.

“So, tell me, is the thing controlling him Sidious or does he go by a different moniker and simply gave Sheev that name?” Arl asks, something in Xanatos changes, he stands up straighter and smiles at him, his eyes now glowing a sickly yellow. Though to be perfectly honest, she actually thinks it would be a pretty colour under other circumstances.

“Well, this conversation deserves me personally.” Xanatos says, only it isn’t Xanatos anymore.

“I suppose you are far more qualified to answer my question.” Arl replies not missing a beat or even being all that shocked.

“My name is Darth Wrath.” The being inhabiting her friend’s body says.

“Pleasure to meet you Lord Wrath.” Arlie replies bowing slightly, the being looks shocked but smiles.

“And you Miss Skywalker.” Wrath says to her.

“You are well informed.” She replies giving him an appraising look. “What have you done to Xanatos?”

“I have taken control of his mind, currently I am possessing him.”  Wrath replies nonchalantly as he twirls the hilt of Xan’s lightsaber in his hand.

“Like you have Sheev Palpatine?” She questions he begins giving her the same look as she gave him.

“How do you know about Sheev?”

“Why are you possessing either of them?  And why make Sheev kill his wife?”

“Why don’t you tell me clever girl.” She frowns as she focuses on the problem.

“You’ve given Sheev his own Sith Moniker even though you are controlling him, so if you are regarding him as his own being, then he would need to give a sacrifice to earn his name.” She tells him, he nods encouragingly. “But why do any of it? You can’t possess him and have control of your own body.  So, is this your way of protecting yourself?”

“Is it?” He asks as he begins circling her, she doesn’t bother to track his movements with her eyes, she’s tracking him with the force.

“No, it isn’t. You’d have gotten rid of him when he was discovered if he were.” She feels his confusion at that before he covers it.  “He isn’t your apprentice or you’d have his loyalty without possessing him.  Perhaps you did it out of necessity. Your body couldn’t hold you anymore, but why? And why Sheev?”

“You seem a little stumped there, Kitten.” He tells her, she turns to face him.

“Why take Xanatos, what do you hope to gain from that?” She asks.

“You, my dear, I hoped to gain your attention.  And I have, I’ve even been granted an audience.” He says with a smile as he caresses a lock of her hair, she doesn’t even flinch.  “You are not afraid of me.”

“I have not been afraid of the dark in a very long time.” She replies looking up at him which leaves them nose to nose as a defiant expression covers her face. “What do you want from me?” he smiles.

“Your power, my dear, and your loyalty.”

“Well, unless you plan on possessing me as well, you won’t get it.  And if you were to do that, you would not have my skill set.  You want to control force-magic the way I do, don’t you?”

“And if I were to warp your mind as I did your friend?” He asks with a threatening air.

“Dear sweet Sith, if you could not gain full control of Xanatos’ head in a year and a half, you will not ever get control of mine.” She replies, he sends out a wave of dark energy, not in an attack but as though curious of what it would do.  She doesn’t shy away, she allows it to pass through her, and wash away.

“Impressive, not many Jedi would allow darkness so close, but then again, not many Jedi are fallen.” Arlie looks at him, but not at Xanatos, no she looks into his mind and directly into Wrath’s mind’s eye.

“You’ve made a mistake Darth Wrath.” She tells him.

“And what’s that?”

“You assume that being fallen makes me dark, the two do not go hand in hand.  And I. am. Not. Dark.” She tells him stepping closer with each word, making him retreat in kind. “You’ve also made the mistake of coming here in person, as it were, because I can kill you now.  Free Sheev, and save us all from two Sith lords, your dear apprentice Darth Maul would be next.  I’m just curious, why break the rule of two?”

“Ah Kitten, I was wondering when we would get to that.  See here is the thing Child, you kill me you kill your friend.  Or you kill me later and you kill Sheev who, for whatever reason, you seem intent on saving.  So, you have a choice to make, kill a friend, kill someone you wish to save, or let me go.” He opens his arms as though waiting for her to attack.

“What is your end game?  I’m curious, I’ve had a vision and seen Sheev in control of an empire but still you do not reveal yourself.  Why?” she asks concerned she may give away too much but she has to know.

“Well, I’ll have to assume I had not yet gotten control of you, one day, Arleia Skywalker, you will be my apprentice, and I shall control all aspects of the force.  I think you’ll make a good apprentice, I always recruit the young.  You’re not a Jedi dear, why not be a Sith?”

“You are a terrible Sith.  You break the rule of two, you do not even follow the Sith Code.  If I were ever to be a Sith, it would not be under you, nor this version of you when you take over Sidious, not under your dreadful apprentices, and not while you possess my friends.  You have made an enemy of me, Darth Wrath, and you will live only long enough to regret it before I cut you down and tear apart the very essence of your life in the force.” He smiles wildly at him.

“I think, that when you do join me, I shall have the perfect name for you, you who is a raging storm. Until next time, Darth Tempest.”  The Xanatos’ eyes go blue and he falls forward.

“Xan?” She asks as she catches him, he is unconscious but alive.  “Great, now I gotta carry them both back to the ship.”  As Arlie lifts Xan with the force and moves to check on Dooku, she’s struck by what Darth Wrath said.

_I always recruit the young._

(Dooku is anything but young…So either he made an exception, or Dooku has been on his side for a very long time.)  She begins floating them back to their shuttle, she’d drop them off and then report to the government.  She’d tell them that the bomber turned out to be someone the Jedi has been after for a long time and make sure that they let her return him to the temple.  (But Dooku warned me about him, I’m certain he wasn’t on his side when we first met, even if he was cold already.  Fallen doesn’t mean dark.  Or even if it does that doesn’t mean he was working for Sidious, or Wrath.) She thinks feeling very confused. (That leaves two options, his mind was warped, or he was somehow convinced/influenced to change sides.  Wrath seems to have planned this well, far too well, but why Dooku.  If he wanted to mess with Arlie why choose Dooku.  And when did that happen?)  Soon enough she’s flying them back to Coruscant, given that she does not have a licence to do this, it is very illegal, but she’s perfectly capable of doing it and Obi got away with it last time. Of course, Qui-Gon was very injured at the time, not that Dooku isn’t, but Obi was also distraught from watching Xan die.  Or so they had thought. (The real question is, do I tell them about Wrath or not? And if so, how do I get them to believe me?)  “Time to make a call.” She says when she sees how close to Coruscant they are.

“Windu.” Mace says as he answers the comm, if she remembers correctly, which she does, they are in a meeting currently.  She hopes that hasn’t changed.

“Master, we are nearly back to Coruscant but, Master Dooku needs a healer.  As does Xanatos.” She says in a panicked voice.

“You found Xanatos?” Master Poof asks, (Yay, meeting in progress, I love it when things go my way.).

“Kind of, I mean yes, I found him.  He’s unconscious as well, but, he wasn’t him when I found him.  The things he was saying and his eyes, I mean it was Xan at first and he hurt Master Dooku and then we were arguing and then he was attacking me and I was yelling at him and then he just stopped, and he changed and then it wasn’t him talking anymore and I didn’t know what to do and I panicked and well then he was unconscious too and we are coming back.  I didn’t know what to do.” She says panicky and making herself cry so that they hear the tears in her voice.

“Okay, Arlie, calm down.  You did the right thing.  I need you to restrain Xanatos somehow and get back here.  We’ll meet you in the hanger and then you can tell us what happened while the other two get help.” Mace tells her.

“O-okay, we’ll be there soon.” She answers before deactivating the comm.  She goes to Xanatos and sits with him surprised at how calm she really is.  All of the things she’s hated for so long, Vader, Sidious, the entire Empire, and the Jedi.  None of it was on them, it was Wrath all along.  Arlie was sure he must have messed with Anakin’s mind which meant she had tried to kill her brother when it wasn’t his fault. Arl expected her anger to morph into rage and blinding hatred for Wrath but instead, it dissipated. Two years she’d held it close to her heart, often wishing she had succeeded when she’d jumped off of the temple, but now she felt it all draining away as she mourned those lost to her and felt deep regret about not saving them, hope that she now could, and happiness that she was surrounded by them all again.  She felt lighter than she had in years and also so very, very drained, she started sobbing while holding Xan’s hand as her anger morphed into grief for her brother’s plight and Garen’s death, something she had not yet felt.  When her tears ran out she did as she was told and restrained Xanatos, she wasn’t sure if it would be Xanatos that woke up or if he would still be under the control of Wrath’s mind warping.  Either way he was sure to need a mind healer for a long time.  She would have to tell the council the truth if he was going to get the correct help, or at least a version of the truth.

Soon after they landed in the hanger, healers took Dooku away but hesitated with Xanatos, eventually they took him once a Knight had come to act as a guard.  Then Arlie spotted Mace and ran to him wrapping her arms around him, he lifted her up and held her close.

“You did it Arl, you saved his life.” Mace whispers into her hair as she buried her face into his shoulder.

“I am just so glad to be home.” She tells him, he hears it in her voice, what she truly means and he nearly weeps with her as she starts crying again.

“I’m glad you are too.” He says as he begins carrying her up to the council room, it’s through sheer force of will that she doesn’t fall asleep on the way there.

“You know, I’ve just realised that my brain chemistry is that of a eight-year-old.” She says into his shoulder, he chuckles.

“Yeah, Mic mentioned that a while ago stating that the lack of emotional control young children have was doing you no favours.” Arlie chuckles at that before she snuggled in closer despite knowing that they were almost there. “You ready?”  She nods as he puts her down, he grabs her hand and opens to doors to the chamber, she sees the entire council and Garen who she smiles tiredly at.

“Padawan Aa, would you please tell us what happened on your mission.” Master Mundi requests, he looks concerned at her obvious emotional distress given she is usually as stoic as any seasoned Jedi Master.

“Yes, Master Mundi.  Master Dooku and I arrived on Telos IV, we investigated the bombings which lead us to a factory that housed the acid used in them.  We went into a room with many catwalks,” She says and sees several councillors cringe, no one liked catwalks. “Xanatos attacked, I believe he was behind the bombings and that he was attempting to gain the attention of the Jedi.  He knocked Master Dooku out very quickly, he had no time to react.  He went to kill him when I yelled at him to stop.  I yelled at him for being ungrateful and everything he was putting Master Qui-Gon through, he stumbled, his eyes changed from the creepy yellow they had been to the normal blue an-and he started muttering.  Saying what have I done, oh god I hurt them, I have to stop this, he told me to, I can’t stop this.”

“Who told him to?” Adi asks, Arl looks at her blankly, “Sorry, continue.”

“He dropped his lightsaber and told me to tell Master Qui-Gon that he’s sorry.  Then he went to jump into the acid tank below.” Arlie says taking a moment to centre herself again before continuing, a much easier feat without the constant anger and hatred. “I called him a coward.  Actually, I think I screamed it at him, and a few other things along the same line.” She tells them cringing slightly, “He came over and hugged me, I thought maybe I had gotten through to him.  Then he told me I should have let him jump and attempted to stab me in the back with his lightsaber.” She hears several gasps from councillors and Mace tightens his grip on her hand, she smiles at him, “It’s okay.  It wasn’t his fault.” She tells him.

“How so?” Yoda asks curiously.

“Well, the two of us were duelling for a while, I yelled something else, asking why he was doing this when he stopped and suddenly straightened up and his eyes started properly glowing yellow.  I didn’t know what was happening but then he said that this conversation deserves him personally or something.  It didn’t sound like Xan anymore, not even the crazy Xan I had just been fighting.  He sounded far more dangerous.” She says the last part in a whisper, “He felt far colder in the force.  I mean Xan started feeling cold shortly before Garen became a Padawan, but that’s like comparing swimming in the ocean on a cold day to swimming in the nude on Hoth.” She tells them.

“Sorry to interrupt I am, this cold, feel it from anyone else, do you?” Yoda asks, Arlie looks to her Master who nods.

“Yes Master, from Master Dooku.  I don’t know what it means though because Master Dooku is not fallen.” Arlie tells them hoping beyond hope that it’s true but knowing it isn’t. “Sh-should I continue?” Arl asks when no one says anything for a moment, Yoda nods.  “Okay so, then not-Xan starts talking about the darkside and possession and warping people’s minds.  I asked him who he was and he, I mean it’s not like any kind of name I’ve heard before.” Arlie says, everyone seems to be paying more attention to her now.

“What was it?” Master Tiin demands.

“He said his name is Darth Wrath, it doesn’t sound like a name so I figured it must be a title of some kind.” Arlie says feigning ignorance, everyone seems to pale as the room grows still. “Masters?” She asks genuinely concerned.

“Go on Child.  What happened next?” Master Mundi asks, Arlie flinches.

“Please don’t call me that, that’s what he called me when he told me that if I killed him Xanatos would die too.” Arlie says moving closer to her Master, she figures at least for now she can allow herself to feel the fear she so long ago learnt to control.  It would only help her convince them after all, Mace pulled her into his side putting his arm over her shoulders. “I um, I asked him what he wanted, why he was doing this and he…” Arlie says trailing off as she feels icy fingers of terror crawling along her spine, maybe allowing the fear in had been a bad idea but, in for a penny, in for a pound.  She wonders what it is she’s so afraid of.

“What did he say?” Micah asks patiently as he smiles encouragingly through his own fear, Garen looks terrified though Micah has moved him so that he could hold his hand.

“He said he wanted my attention, that he wanted my power.” She whispers, everyone looks shocked.

“Why would he want you?” Master Poof asks suspiciously, Arlie shrinks in on herself.

“That’s what I asked, he said he wanted my power.  That I would be his apprentice or something and then he would control all aspects of the force.” Arlie says as she starts crying again, she decides enough is enough and fights back on the terror but does it in a way that everyone in the room can tell what she is doing.  After a few moments, her fear is back to just outside of acceptable ranges and she opens her eyes again, everyone looks white-faced and terrified, at least they believed her though, even Master Poof seemed to think Force-magic was a worthy reason.  “Darth Wrath said he wanted my loyalty, I told him he’d never get it unless he possessed me as well but then he wouldn’t get the control he wanted anyway.”

“Do you make a habit of antagonizing the people threatening you?” Master Piell asks incredulously.

“It’s an old coping mechanism.” Arlie admits quietly.

“Somehow, I don’t think any of your previous owners would have appreciated that.” Micah says with a wry grin, everyone looks to her.

“Owners?” Master Gallia asks, Arl had honestly forgotten it wasn’t common knowledge.

“Perhaps we should talk about that later and go on with the briefing?” Mace requests knowing it was the least of their problems.

“Right, well he then said he could warp my mind like he did Xan’s.” Arl says, everyone seems on edge then. “I told him that if he couldn’t gain control of Xan’s mind in a year and a half, he couldn’t gain control of mine.  After all, Xanatos had already fallen and his shielding leaves much to be desired.” Everyone seemed to agree with the assessment. “I asked who else he controlled like this.  Figured so long as he was talking he wasn’t killing me.  He gave me a name.  I don’t know why.” Arl says, everyone seems worried about that but more interested in the name.  “Sheev Palpatine of Naboo, I don’t know who that is though.”

“I do, he’s a nobleman, went into politics a few years ago.  They’re saying he’ll be the next Senator for Naboo.” Master Billaba tells them, “What does he want with him?”

“I don’t know, but he referred to him as Darth Sidious, was boasting that he’d made him kill his wife.” Arlie tells them all trying to give them more information. “He also said something about another apprentice, Darth Main, no Maul, Darth Maul.” No one seems happy, in fact they’ve gone from scared to pants shitting terrified.

“He’s broken the rule of two.” Adi says breathlessly.

“He’s a Sith?” Arlie whispers, everyone looks at her surprised, “Master Dooku talked about his research with me sometimes.” She says as she looks to her shoes as though chastised.

“What happened after that?” Master Koon asks hesitantly, he didn’t sound like he really wanted to know.

“He-he, oh gods.” Arlie says as her eyes widen and she starts crying again, “I didn’t know what he meant by apprentice before but oh gods, he said I’d join him and when I did he had the perfect name for me.” Arlie says as she cries, she thought it was a rather convincing façade since she had known the Sith’s plans for her since she tried to kill Vader, it was the rest of the information that she didn’t have.

“What name?” Master Koth and Master Billaba ask at the same time, the councillors sitting on the edge of their seats, while Mace starts rubbing circles onto her back soothingly.

“Darth Tempest, said I’d be his raging storm.” Arlie says her voice full of fear as she sobs.

“Masters, can we finish this later?” Mace asks picking up his Padawan and holding her close uncaring if they thought it un-Jedi-like, it may be put on for the benefit of the council, but he could tell she was drained and tired for real.

“Have all we need, we do, for now.  Ask more later we shall.” Master Yoda tells him.

“Then this meeting is adjourned.” Mace tells them before carrying his Padawan out of there.

 


	5. Chapter 5

****

Mace takes her back to their quarters where they are quickly joined by Garen and Micah, the latter of which closes the door behind him.  Arlie wastes no time in calming herself again, her fear may have been semi-real but she was also well versed in releasing such things into the force as she did now.

“So, what didn’t you tell them?” Micah asks as they all sit down around the coffee table on the floor like they always do.

“Well, I brought up Sheev and Lorna not him, he killed Lorna as Sheev’s sacrifice to earn his Sith name but I don’t understand what he’s using Sheev for.  I’m pretty sure that his body couldn’t hold him anymore, I don’t know why but that’s why he’s possessing people.  Why he chose Sheev and why he treats him like a separate being, I don’t know either.  Also, I threatened him pretty darkly, and he called me fallen, he shot a wave of darkness at me and was impressed when I allowed it to pass through me and melt away.  Questioned why I don’t fear him and engaged in an annoying game of attempting to have me figure everything out.”  Arlie explains, Garen looks confused while the other two look thoughtful.

“How is it that any of that made you come back to the light?” Garen asks, Arl smiles.

“It didn’t, what did was me releasing my hatred or rather having it and my anger drain out of me when I realised that Vader and Sidious were all under his control and everything was on him.  I thought it would just make me hate Wrath but it didn’t.  Anyways, then he said until next time and left Xan whose eyes turned blue and he collapsed.  He hasn’t woken since so I’ve no idea what he will be like when he does.”

“At least now we know none of what happened was his fault except the initial falling.” Mace says, Arlie smiles.

“Can we go see him?” Arlie asks followed by a yawn reminding her how tired and drained she feels, the council did not help that in the slightest. “Okay, nap first, then see him?” She requests, Mace nods and sends her off to bed.

It’s a full twelve hours before she wakes again which leaves it at 3rd hour, Arlie sighs when she notices the time but gets up and gets dressed to sneak into the healer’s wing anyway.  When she gets there she checks on Dooku first who, according to his chart, regained consciousness but fell asleep again almost immediately thanks to the pain medication.  Arl then searches for Xanatos, she finds him restrained to the bed and with a guard at the door.  She uses the force as she has a few times before to make him believe what he is seeing is perfectly okay so that she can walk right past him, only stopping her influence on him when she is seated beside her friend who was strapped to the bed had yet to awaken.  Despite the twelve hour nap, she falls asleep in her chair an hour later.

When she awakens again, she’s leaning with her head on her arms which are folded on the bed in front of her, realising the vulnerable position she sits up quickly and sees blue eyes watching her.

“Xan?” Arlie asks hopefully.

“Hey Arlie.” He replies softly, she smiles.

“It’s good to see you Saviour.” She tells him grabbing his still restrained hand, he holds her hand tightly.

“Don’t, don’t call me that.” He stutters just as quietly as before, “I am nobody’s saviour.” He says looking away from her sadly.

“Xan what happened wasn’t your fault, it was…wait, how much do you remember?” She asks, Xanatos looks back at her but won’t meet her eye.

“Most things.” He whispers brokenly. “Arlie, the things you said.  What the hell was that?” He asks barely audible, Arlie is a little more focused on what his answer means for Sheev, he could remember everything that happened to Lorna and his children.

“I will explain Xan I promise, but so long as this…Sith…is still able to enter your mind, I can’t take that risk.” She tells his just as quietly, worried that even that is too much. Xanatos just nods resignedly, he figures that’s the way it’s going to be for a while to come.  Deserved too.

“I’m so sorry Arlie, I didn’t want to hurt you.  I tried to stop it, why didn’t you let me stop it?” He asks crying quietly.

“I have lost too many people that way Xan, and nearly myself too.  I couldn’t just watch you do it too, not when I could save you.” She tells him running a hand through his hair, it was sad that she had to lean forward so much to do so, stupid nine-year-old body.  (Gods, I’m turning fifty-one in a few months…) Arl suddenly thinks and then scolds herself for thinking of that right now.

“Can you?  Can you save me?” he asks knowing that he isn’t safe yet.  Arl smiles at him.

“I suppose we will find out, but I am far too stubborn to ever give up.”

“Arl, what he said about you being fallen, and what you said about knowing the dark side…was that true?” He asks, Arl smiles at him reassuringly.

“It was, I may use all aspects of the force but I am no longer fallen.”  Arlie tells him, he looks marginally afraid.

“You can’t use the dark side Arls, it takes darkness to control.”

“No Xan, it takes a true lack of fear and a lot of aggression.  Aggressive doesn’t always mean bad.” She says glad they were already talking quietly, it would be bad if this were overheard.  “Xan, they are going to question you at some point.  I am begging you, tell them it’s all a bit fuzzy, you only remember bits and pieces.  Whatever you like so long as it doesn’t implicate me, they know of the Sith and Sheev and his wife and most things.  I will bring you fully into the loop when we strengthen your shields a whole bunch which I will help you do as soon as they are done with you.” Arlie tells him sensing Yoda and Mace walking toward them.  Xan nods.

“I’ll hold you to that.” He replies with a smile, Arlie smiles teary eyed as it fully hits her that she did it, she saved Xan and she exposed the Sith in a way that the council believes her. “Masters, I’d bow but…”  Xan says wiggly his hands with an obviously forced joking smile, Arl turns to see Mace and Yoda at the door along with a bewildered guard.

“I apologise for that but I’m sure you can understand our wariness.” Mace replies looking genuinely regretful.

“Not everyday the Sith take control of someone’s mind I suppose.” Xan says in the quiet and broken voice he had used before as he looks to the floor beside them rather than look at any of them.

“Remember you do?” Yoda asks with an accepting look on his face, Xan knew that he was not blamed for his actions and felt immense gratitude for Arlie telling them as much of the truth as she could.

“Not everything, it’s all kind of, fuzzy.” He says with a look of intense concentration. “I remember feeling very cold and I remember Darth Wrath whispering in my head.” He shivers at the memory.

“When did the whispering start?” Mace asks with a frown as Arl tightens her hold on Xan’s hand in support.

“A couple of weeks after we met Arlie, I think.” Xan says surprising even Arlie.

“Sense it makes if his target you are.” Yoda says looking briefly to Arl who is hit with a sudden onslaught of guilt that had her looking to the ground, Mace’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder.  “Meant to fault you I did not, control this you could not have so unnecessary your guilt is.” Yoda tells her as he climbs into her lap, Arl wraps an arm around him to hug him and to keep him from falling. “Remember anything else, do you?” he asks Xan.

“I remember getting control back a few times but never for long, the longest was when I tried to, well, on the catwalks when Arlie yelled at me.  He told me that I was helping him build his legacy and that you were the key to his real goal.” Xan says looking to Arlie.

“Of controlling all aspects of the force?” She asks him surprised when he shakes his head.

“No, that’s just another stepping stone.  He wants to kill his Master but he’s not strong enough, controlling you will make him so, he also said something about cruel irony for you to be the one to kill Darth Plagueis.”

“What, why?” Arl asks as Mace mutters under his breath, “Of course there’s another kriffing Sith.” Which amuses Arl slightly since her colourful language is catching on.

“I don’t know, apparently you’re important to him.  Important enough that he stopped Sithing a while ago and then started again which is why Wrath wants to kill him.  He’s going to use you and Sidious to do it.” Xanatos tells them.

“Okay so Sidious is Sheev Palpatine, who are Wrath and Plagueis?” Mace asks rubbing his hands over half his face before catching himself and dropping them, Arl would have smirked had she not been so keen to hear Xan’s answer.

“He didn’t tell me but I, vaguely, remember him ranting to Maul about it when I was in his hideout, which before you ask, I don’t remember where it is.” Xan says and Arlie can tell he really doesn’t.

“Okay then what was he ranting to Maul about?” Arlie asks.

“He said something about his Master retiring a few years ago, around the time his previous apprentice killed him, which made no sense to me, then he came back two years later really angry.  He realised my mast…um, Darth Wrath had survived his Apprentice’s attack somehow and tried to kill him again.  Except Maul helped Wrath or Sidious, I don’t know it’s the same body, to take him down but they couldn’t kill him or he got free, I’m not really clear on that.  Anyway, while complaining to Maul about this he said a name but I’m not sure if it was Maul’s of Plagueis’.” Xanatos tells them hating himself for the near slip of the word ‘Master’.  A year and a half had given him a habit he could lose now and it still be too late for his comfort.

“What name?” Mace asks trying to be patient with the clearly traumatised twenty-year-old.

“Hego Damask.” Arl’s heart stopped, her breathing stopped, the blood drained from her face.

“No.” She whispers caught between a mix of horror, total terror, and complete dread before she passes out from the greatest amount of fear she had felt since the last time she’d heard that name.

“Arlie!” Mace calls worriedly as he catches his unconscious Padawan and the tiny Master that had been on her lap. “Who the hell is Hego Damask?” He asks as he lays his Padawan on the empty medical bed beside Xanatos’.

“Heard of him I have not, look into it we must.” Yoda says his serenity broken by fear and worry.

 

A few hours later Arl wakes up to see Garen sitting next to her playing what looked like poker against Qui-Gon who appeared to be receiving help from Xanatos, and losing.

“I um…” Garen says, Arl is pretty sure they were supposed to be teaching him to play not torturing him.

“Raise ‘em twenty.” Arl tells him, a risky move especially since she doesn’t know how the rest of the game has gone, but that’s why it’s called a bluff.  Garen listens to her without hesitation which makes her all warm and fuzzy inside.  Xan and Qui hesitate before they fold.

“Yay!  Thanks Arls, that’s the first game I’ve won, I still don’t know how to play.  Anyway, how are you feeling?” Garen asks, with a worried smile, Arl looks over and sees Xan unshackled.

“Pretty good, wait what happened?” Arl says, her relief at Xan being freed overshadowed by her inability to remember why she had been unconscious.

“You passed out when we got an identity of either Darth Maul or Darth Plagueis.” Qui tells her, she frowns as she thinks hard on that and then remembers, she pales again.

“Are you going to pass out again?” Garen asks moving to hold her up.

“No, just, um, fuck.” She says ineloquently.

“The queen of class you are.” Garen tells her, she laughs and by the way he smiles she knows that was his intention.  What made her even happier was the lack of scowl from Xan at the interaction, then Obi came into the room.

“Master, I’ve been looking everywhere fo…Xanatos?” Obi-Wan says looking to the man on the bed.

“Hello Brother-Padawan.” Xanatos says, Obi smiles and walks over to hug him.

“I am glad you are home.” Obi tells him, he pats Obi’s hair and smiles.

“Me too.”

“Why were you looking for me Padawan?” Qui asks curiously, Obi turns back to him.

“We are meant to meet Arlie for another sparring lesson.  But she’s also here and in a medbed, are you okay?” Obi-Wan says spotting her.

“You need to take in your surroundings Padawan.” Qui reminds him, Obi-Wan smiles sheepishly.

“I’m okay Little Obi, Xan any idea when you are being released?” She asks as a plan comes to mind, she feels a flash of guilt at Obi-Wan’s frozen expression from what she called him, he snaps out of it quickly though for which she is glad.

“Actually, I was already, about forty minutes ago.  Once each member of the council had helped me add their own personal twist to my mental shielding and then all attempted to enter my mind and failed, they decided I could leave so long as I stayed in the temple.” He replies with a relieved smile, he seems to be doing better but Arlie thinks it’s less to do with dealing with what happened and more to do with his mind being safe again.  At least they think it’s safe.

“Mind if I test?” Arl asks it being clear that if he says no, she won’t, he nods though.  Arl then attempts to enter his mind, actually tries for twenty minutes before she succeeds, he easily builds his walls back up and kicks her out though, especially since she didn’t try to stay. “Pretty good, just so long as you tell someone the second you feel anyone trying to do that.” She tells him he nods but apparently her approval relaxed him greatly, and the others. “Well, how about we all go to the training salle and you two can either watch me beat the crap out of them or join in and I can beat the crap out of all four of you?”

“You are aware that you haven’t been cleared, yeah?” Garen asks knowing it won’t make a difference.

“Physically I am fine and I’m not going to pass out again.  I am however going to leave this room and beat the crap out of something, would you prefer it were you guys under training circumstances or some poor unsuspecting sod out there?” Arl asks, Garen rolls his eyes as Obi facepalms.

“I have to admit, I’m curious how well you can actually fight, I know you were holding back before when, well, you know.” Xan says his smile fading for a second before coming back only looking a little forced.  He clearly wasn’t okay, but that’s why she wants to distract him.

“If I went all out on any one of you you’d be down in less than a second.” She replies honestly, they all appear to take it as a challenge.

“What about all four of us?” Qui-Gon asks, she smirks.

“You and three undertrained Padawans?” she asks, he seems to concede her point.

“New plan, we are going to go into that training salle, find the best fighters in there and get them all to fight her at the same time.” Garen declares.

“Is that not over kill?” Xanatos questions, then shakes his head. “I take it back, it’s Arlie, let’s go.” Xan says.

They head to the training salle and find Mace, Micah and Dooku watching some initiates that Yoda is instructing.  They also see Knight Vos and Master Billaba sparring, along with Bant and Reeft attempting to teach Bellan some self-defence, since it really wasn’t her strong suit, and Tahl watching them.

“How’s Dooku doing?” Arl asks as they stand in the doorway as they scout the place out.

“Full recovery.” Qui-Gon replies.

“Brilliant.  Garen you get our Masters, Obi-Wan, you get Bant, Reeft, Bellan, and Tahl.  I’ll get my sister-Padawan, and Qui-Gon, attempt to entice Yoda to join in and make it a demonstration for the initiates in how to drop a bunch of trained Jedi on their asses.” They all nod and split up. 

“Master Billaba, Knight Vos.” Arl says, they stop sparring and turn to her, she bows in greeting and they bow in return.  “Master Jinn, Padawans Muln, Kenobi, Xanatos, and I were wondering if you’d like to join a sparring exercise we are trying out.” She asks smiling innocently at them.

“I know that look dear sister-padawan, it means trouble.  Count me in.” Depa says ruffling her hair.  Arl and Depa had never really bonded as sister-padawans, Arl hopes they can now.

“I’m in too.” Vos says so they head over.  Everyone accepted the challenge though everyone was sure to check on Dooku, Xanatos, and Arlie before hand which annoyed all three.

“Padawan are you sur…” Mace begins to ask again before she grabs his hand and flips him onto the ground, “Okay, you’re sure.” He says sounding winded as Arl helps him back up. “So, what is this training exercise?”  Apparently, they had all used the same excuse which amused all five of them when they realised.

“We are all going to fight Arlie.” Obi-Wan says, several of them look shocked at the notion while Mace and Micah looks mildly scared.

“Nope, I’m out.  I do not need that level of embarrassment.” Micah says, he had never sparred with her, too afraid to lose.

“I mean, with all of us against her?” Mace asks though he seemed unsure, that set the others off to the fact that this was not a joke.

“Participate I will, a good lesson for the initiates this will be no matter the ending.” Yoda tells them walking into the large open area behind them.  Slowly they all agree before they are in a circle around Arlie with plenty of room to fight.

“I feel ridiculous having us all face down a nine-year-old but I’ve heard stories from My Master so I’m also slightly afraid.” Depa tells them laughing a bit, they all nod in agreement.

“Xanatos, you’ve fought her most recently, what should we be expecting?” Vos asks, the other freeze at the question unsure how it will be taken but knowing Vos isn’t trying to be cruel.  Xanatos shrinks into himself a little before hesitating and then standing tall again.

“We should expect to get our asses handed to us.” He replies honestly earning a few laughs, the initiates watch them all transfixed. 

“Rules?” Arl asks.

“Lightsabers on training level, no severe injury and no death.” Mace replies knowing that permanent and severe mean different things since Arl can heal most injuries.  Arl looks the ground as she enters a fighting stance and breathes in deeply, as she breathes out her mind stretches into the force before coming back into herself but leaving her awareness open, she looks up and smiles as she ignites her lightsaber.  Then the fight begins.

Arl easily takes Obi, Bant, Reeft, Tahl, and Bellan out of the match.  Next, she flipped Quinlan over her back, he did not get back up again but they knew he was alive, she spared a second to heal him before jumping back into the fray.  Depa, Qui, Xanatos, Micah, Yoda, and Mace exchange looks, these six had fought together before and were much better at working in tandem, Arl took Depa and Qui out simultaneously before getting Mace to accidentally take Micah out who brought Dooku down with him.  Xanatos was out next though everyone was impressed with how long he had lasted.  Then Mace was thrown into the wall.  Yoda paused the match to give Arl a chance to heal him before the two had a showdown.

Everyone in the salle was watching by this point, not just the initiates though they looked positively gleeful.

Yoda and Arl circled each other for a while before Yoda jumped forward, then they were fighting again.  Arlie had sparred with Yoda many times in the past thirty years, but this Yoda had never sparred with her.  Still it looked like a dance performed extremely fast, if not for the force, none would be able to keep up with the fight.  They fought for a mere ten minutes before Arlie had Yoda on the ground with both of their light sabers crossed over his throat, he yields.  Arl was quickly swarmed by excited initiates who only dissipated after Arlie promised to come down to the crèche that evening to tell them all stories.

“Most impressive young one.” Depa tells her reminding Arl of Quilo, but for once she isn’t sad, instead excited at the prospect of getting to meet the girl again one day. 

“Thank you Master Billaba.” Depa shakes her head.

“You are my sister-padawan, you may call me Depa outside of official situations.” She tells Arl who smiles widely.

“So out of curiosity, when are you knighting her?” Vos asks Mace who smiles proudly while Mic laughs.

“How about when she’s not nine-years-old.” Tahl inputs.

“A measure of skill and discipline being knighted is, a factor age should not be.  When a padawan I was, knighted at thirteen my Master had been.” Yoda tells them with a smile brought forth by reminiscing.

“What was your Master like?” One of the initiates from Yoda’s class asks.

“Kind she was and stubborn, taught me to be stubborn she did, worse she was.  Created the order she did, longer than she should have she lived.” Yoda tells them, everyone’s eyes go wide.

“Your Master created the order?” Quinlan asks awestruck.

“Her second proudest accomplishment it would be.” Yoda replies nodding.

“Would be?” Arl asks at the same time Garen asks, “What was the first?”

“What it will grow to become.” Yoda replies which answered both questions.

“Master Yoda, there’s a legend that the one who created the order, created the force.  Master Penn says it’s just a myth, is it?” An initiate asks.

“A good question that is, asked many times I have, been answered I have not. Spoke in riddles my Master often did, meddle she also did.” He says sounding disgruntled by his Master’s antics.

“Now we know who to blame for that.” Arlie mutters earning her a swat from the gimmer stick. “I deserved that.” She replies not even flinching.

“Well, as fun as this was, I must depart, Master Aa, walk with me?” Dooku asks, Arlie nods automatically without even noticing the name as she follows after him, she did not notice the confused looks on everyone’s faces either.

“What’s with the sudden departure?  Got a hot date?” Arlie asks with a shit eating grin as they walk across the salle towards the door.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He replies, Arl literally jumps and claps as she squeals a little. “Shush. You’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

“Some things are worth it, spill, who, where’d you meet, what are they like, what are you doing, when did this happen, and why is this the first I’m hearing about it?” She asks in rapid fire before quickly intake breath, “Does Qui know?” Arl adds.

“It is the first you are hearing about it because we are trying to keep it under wraps, but it is our third date and I want to get her something but I do not know what and I have run out of time to think of something myself.” He tells her, she smiles happily.

“A girl needs a name.” Arlie tells him.

“Jocasta Nu.” Dooku replies, Arlie stops him, pushing the two closer to the wall and out of the way of other Jedi in the hallway.

“You and Master Nu?” She asks, he nods nervously, “Squee.” She replies high pitched but quiet.

“What does that even mean?” He asks incredulously, because really, squee?.

“I don’t know, it’s what the kids are doing these days, I picked it up from my pa…friend.” Arlie finishes lamely, Dooku’s eyes go wide.

“Were you about to say padawan? Kids these days? What?” Dooku asks, Arl shushes him and leads him through the temple until they get to empty classrooms.

“I said nothing of the sort, now can we get back to the problem at hand?”

“I was right when I said you are far older than you look.” Dooku states, Arl facepalms knowing she wasn’t getting out of this, she settles into her Jedi Master mode awaiting further questions.  “Ah, there she is, Master Aa.” He says noticing her shift in demeanour. “How?”

“You tell me?” She replies simply because it’s fun to toy with him, it didn’t occur to her she’s doing the exact thing Wrath had done to her.

“Time travel? Body hopping?” he asks, she gives no indication. “Fine, time travel.”

“Time does not exist enough for one to travel in Master Dooku.” Arl replies, Dooku smiles, which, what the fuck? Is his face broken?

“So, how old are you?” He asks as he sits at the teaching master’s table, Arl sits on the table.

“Let us play a game, an answer for an answer.  You ask a question, I answer, then we switch.  Until one of us runs out of questions.” Arl proposes, he nods, “Fifty.”

“Somehow that is both younger and older than I was expecting, your question?” He asks though he looks as though he’s going to burst from the amount he has to ask.

“Do you know Darth Sidious?” She asks, he looks calculating for a moment, obviously surprised by the question.

“Yes.” He replies, Arlie does not react, she pushes her feelings aside as she runs through the information she has forming all possible conclusions in order to best pick her next move.  War time was useful for some things. “How old were you when you were knighted?”

“Thirteen…ish” She replies.

“Like Master Yoda’s Master.” Dooku says, Arl smiles.

“Apparently, are you working for or with or do you have any intention of ever working for or with Darth Sidious or Darth Wrath?” she asks.

“Who the devil is Darth Wrath?”

“It’s my question Dooku.”

“I am not nor do I intend to work for or with Darth Sidious, I do not know Darth Wrath and therefore cannot answer the question.” Dooku replies, she nods happy with his answer. “Who is Darth Wrath?”

“Darth Plagueis apprentice.” She replies coldly. “Do you have any intention of harming the Jedi Order or any Jedi inside it?”

“No, why do all your questions seem centred around a belief that I wish to cause harm?”

“Because you did.  Where I come from you did.”

“I joined Sidious?”

“My turn. How do you know Sidious?” Master Dooku looks down ashamed before looking back to her.

“He taught me to use the dark side of the force.” Arl looks at him blank-faced as she had been this whole time. “How did you come back?”

“I do not know.  I assume it was the force wanting me to save it but I do not know for sure.  Are you a Sith?” Arl asks showing none of the hesitation she felt.

“Yes.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Are you a Sith?” Arlie asks Dooku showing none of the hesitation she felt, he pauses for a moment.

“Yes.” He replies simply.  “Do you know what being a Sith truly entails?” he asks, she knows her answer will pave the way for the rest of this conversation.

“No, but I know there is more to it than killing Jedi.” Arlie tells him.  “Are you Darth Tyranus?” He looks quite a bit surprised.

“Yes.  I will assume I went by that moniker in the future.  Do you know the Sith code and if so, recite it for me.”

“Shouldn’t you know your own code?” She replies without hostility.

“Shouldn’t a Jedi have gone to tell someone of a Sith in the temple by now?” He replies challengingly.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion I gain strength.

Through strength I gain power.

Through power I gain victory.

Through victory my chains are broken,

The force shall free me.” She replies, it annoyed her how much she felt the Jedi ended up following this code during the war.  She has never truly followed the Jedi Code on account of the fact that she disagrees with it and makes no secret of that, but these people that have devoted themselves to it basically betrayed it.  She hates…dislikes war.

“Very good, not many Jedi would know it off by heart if they know it at all.”

“Not many Jedi have met six Sith in their lives.” She replies, “Have you ever or do you currently have an apprentice?” She asks now curious how many Sith are out there.

“Yes, one.” He replies, “Which code do you prefer?” Arl freezes as she thinks it over.

“The Grey Code.” She replies, he smirks at her, feeling oddly proud of her ability to look past the obvious answers, she had told him before, if she does not like either option, she makes another one. “Who was your apprentice, Sith name and people name.”

“Promise not to turn him over.  Whether or not you do me is up to you and depends on how this conversation ends, but I will not risk my former apprentice.” She gives him a calculating gaze as she weighs her options.

“I will not turn him over until he does something new to deserve it.” She replies.

“Darth Anarch.” He tells her.

“How Poetic.” She deadpans.

“Qui-Gon Jinn.” Arl’s Jaw actually drops.

“Qui is a fucking Sith Lord?!” She says just stopping herself from yelling.  “Jesus Christ!”

“Who?”

“A deity from the planet I grew up on. How is that most important right now, Qui is a sith! Are Xan and Obi?”

“Not to my knowledge.” He replies looking as though he’s concerned he should not have told her, worried she’d go back on her words.

“How did that even happen? Did Qui know what you were teaching him…what am I asking of course he did, you wouldn’t trick him into being a Sith if he didn’t want to.”

“You still believe that?” He asks looking quite surprised, she smiles at him.

“I am wary of you at the moment because in fifteenish years you joined Sidious, you killed Xanatos, and Garen’s Padawan which sent him crazy as he tried to hunt you down.  You were a very bad guy, Darth Tyranus, the future one, led an army against us and sent the entire galaxy into a war that lasted three years!” Arlie tells him giving up on being reticent. “But not because you were a Sith, because for whatever reason you were working for Sidious or as it turns out Wrath. But Qui did not, I mean he died but that’s not the point because Maul killed him.”

“Maul killed my apprentice? Why would I work for Sidious?! I hate him! He does not even follow the code.” Dooku says sounding annoyed.

“I believe you Dooku, or do you prefer Tyranus?” She questions he looks shocked, she rolls her eyes. “I don’t hate Sith, I dislike the ones I have met because they were evil, but Jedi can be too, anyone can be and it’s got nothing to do with their belief system.”

“I’ve never met such a level headed Jedi, if that even is what you are.  I believe you technically have to follow the Jedi Code to be a Jedi which you very much do not.” Dooku tells her, “So what, are you a grey Jedi?”

“I am whatever I need to be at any given moment.” She tells him.

“Dangerous way to live, people can easily take advantage of that Arlie.”

“You think I haven’t learnt that in fifty years?  I’ve run an entire war effort, I’ve faced down three Sith and watched my brother turn into one of them.  No way of living is safe, at least mine frees me from any constraints except the ones I place on myself.” She tells him releasing the anger her own words cause as it comes.

“So, what happens now?” He asks her, she looks over him and then to the door and back again.

“Now, we decide what you are going to get for Jocasta, and while you are there, I am going to have a little talk with Qui-Gon in private.  I promise no turning him in or getting him caught, he’s my friend, I wouldn’t do that anyway.  Nor will I with you unless you do something I feel deserves it.”

“Thank you, Arlie.” He says very seriously whilst holding her gaze steadily, she nods without breaking the eye contact.

“What about a book?  Like an actual paperbound book of whatever favourite novel she has?” Arl suggests.

“Where would I find a book?”

“I don’t know if it’s there now but there was a bookstore on the lower levels of Coruscant ten years from now.” She tells him, gives directions and then bows as he leaves which he returns, he turns back just before he leaves the room.

“Arl, why do you know my code off by heart?” He asks her curiously, she debates with herself for a minute.

“I was given back my body from when I was seven, but old body or not, some scars will always remain.” She tells him, he seems to be pondering her words even as he nods and leaves the room, she wonders if he knows how literally she meant it.

 

She leans against the wall of the classroom for a while thinking over everything that happened before deciding she’d brooded long enough and she needed some answers, she goes to Qui-Gon’s quarters.

“Master Aa.” Obi says mockingly, though not cruelly, as he opens the door, she looks confused at him, “What was with Master Dooku calling you that?”

“He was teasing me on the way to Telos IV and the name came about and apparently is sticking.” She replies.

“And catching on.” Qui-Gon says as he walks out of the kitchen to see her, she bows to him and receives a bow in return.

“Master Jinn, I was wondering if I might talk to you in private regarding something Master Dooku told me.” Arl requests politely, he nods and leads her to the couch as Obi says something about going to the commissary.

“What’s this about?” He asks as she gets her serious face on.

“Darth Anarch and Darth Tyranus.” She replies, Qui freezes and opens his mouth to feign ignorance when Arl puts her hand up to silence him. “Relax I am not telling anyone.  I had enough of a conversation with Tyranus to know you both mean no harm.  Being what you are is not necessarily a bad thing.” Arl tells him, he relaxes as he senses the truth in her words.

“Odd of a Jedi to think that way.” He replies hesitantly as though she may change her mind at any second.

“Odd of a Sith to be disguising himself as a Jedi without the intent of destroying them.”

“Have a lot of experience with Sith?”

“Enough.  I need to know what you know of Sidious.” She tells him, he nods.

“I figured that was what this is about.  I do not know more than what my Master has told me.” He tells her.

“What has he told you?” Qui-Gon raises an eyebrow at her challengingly.

“Should you not be asking him?” She smirks realising the verbal battle and mastery of words is a trait of the Sith.  It’s not much of a surprise, it is a way of sneakily manipulating people into the position you want them in after all.

“He is otherwise occupied.” She replies, Qui-Gon’s eyes narrow.

“With what?”

“Book shopping.” Qui sputters a laugh.

“I shall not even ask.  Lord Tyranus told me that when he was a young Jedi Knight, he met a man who called himself Darth Sidious, he taught him the code and to use the Dark Side.  Then one day he had a son whom he grievously mistreated.  Master did not like what he was doing and could not allow it to continue so he killed him.  Only he did not die, his spirit arose from his body and promised my Master that one day he would feel the full extent of his wrath.  Except it has been almost seven years and not a word.”  A timeline starts clicking into place in her mind and she nods.

“Thank you Qui, you’ve been a big help. Quick question, what would you and your former Master prefer I call you both?  In private that is.” She asks sounding very grateful. “I know that Sith generally denounce their birth name once they’ve earned the new one but yours is an irregular situation.”

“I would prefer my Sith name as I consider it my true name, but only if you can be certain it will not be overheard.” He replies, she nods.

“One more thing, do Xan and Obi know?” Qui shakes his head.

“No and I have trained them to be Jedi.” He tells her, she nods again.

“Thank you for your help Lord Anarch.” She says bowing to him, he smiles and bows back.

“Master Aa.” He says smirking at her, she pokes her tongue out at him before leaving and heading back to her quarters.

 

Arlie walks into her quarters and finds her Masters and Brother-Padawan sitting there watching some holovid, she smiles at Mic resting his head against Mace’s shoulder.

“Okay so, Plagueis retired, Wrath who was then Sidious had an apprentice who killed him for mistreating his own son. He told said apprentice as his soul was released from his body that he would feel the full extent of his wrath.  He becomes Wrath and possesses Sheev dubbing him Sidious, this was seven years ago.  Then Plagueis returns, angry at something and tries to kill Sidious/Wrath when he finds out he survived his Apprentice’s attempted assassination.  Sidious/Wrath survives thanks to Maul’s help, Sidious/Wrath now wants me to help him kill Plagueis and he wants to punish his apprentice.” Arl tells them in lieu of a greeting.

“Hello to you to.” Garen says sarcastically.

“Okay we knew half of that, where’d you get the rest?” Micah asks ignoring his Padawan.

“It’s better you don’t know for now.” She replies, Mic and Mace exchange looks but ultimately decide to trust her.

“So why did Plagueis retire and where did he go?  Why did he come back, why was he angry?  How does he know you Arlie and how do you know him?  I feel he is the one we know the least about now.” Mic tells them as he frowns.

“His name is Hego Damask, he went to Tatooine where he met a slave, secretly courted her for two years and became like a father to her daughter.  Then Mos Espa was raided by Tuskens and he slaughtered them all using the force, ripping bodies apart and one time ripped a heart out of a child’s chest.  The slave told him to leave, to get away from her and her daughter and to never come back, and he did.  Then she found out she was pregnant, the mother and daughter vowed to never tell the baby who it’s father was and they never spoke about what happened again.  After he was sent away he clearly went back to the Sith and was pissed off about what happened.”  She tells them solemnly as she leaves out the worst of what happened.

“Oh Arls…” Garen says unsure what to say, Mace lifts his arms so she sits on his lap and accepts his offered embrace, Mic and Garen sit on either side of them offering support.

“Okay, we have a name for him and know his whereabouts from then, we have a vague timeline on Wrath’s possession of my brother and his overall plan along with reasoning for his targeting of you.  An apprentice out there also being targeted by Wrath though gods know what he means when he says ‘feel the full extent of my wrath’.  We also have a child of Plagueis that he may or may not know about and possible attachment to Arl and her mother.  Plus, how many Sith in the galaxy as of this moment?” Mace recounts before looking at Arl for her answer.

“Five or six if you count Sidious and Wrath as two entities.” They look surprised, “Two of them are not a threat to us though and will likely aid us against the others.”

“What Sith would help us? And why count Wrath and Sidious as two?” Micah asks confused.

“Well, like he did with Xanatos, he could go into another body and control Sheev’s mind like that which means more bodies but he will have less control over every move Sidious makes and he won’t be force-sensitive.” Arl explains, “So what we are dealing with is four, let’s call them…Dark Sith, and two, let’s just call them Sith.”

“Alright assuming we believe you, how do we know which Sith are with us and which are against us?” Mace asks not sounding happy with her assessment.

“Well it is not Plagueis, Maul, or Sidious/Wrath.” Garen replies, Arl nods and they both get glared at by Mace.  “Masters, do Jedi love?” He asks suddenly as he begins to implement the plan he and Arl made to get the two together, both flush at his question.

“N-not typically no.” Mace replies hesitantly, caught off guard by the seemingly random question.

“So, some do then?” He questions curiously.

“Jedi are not robots so it would stand to reason that Jedi will, on occasion, develop such feelings for people.  However, love is an attachment which Jedi are not supposed to have.”  Mace tells him diplomatically.

“What happens to Jedi that do love?” Garen asks innocently.

“Arl, you’ve seen the future, ever witnessed something like this?” Her master asks her, she smiles, her eyes dancing in amusement.

“I am only fifty-years-old Master, and I lived in war time where everything changed, I believe you or Mic would be better suited to explain this.  Unless neither of you know of a Jedi who loves someone?” She challenges, both of her Masters grow a little twitchy as Mace flushes even more, Mic smirks with barely restrained laughter at the display.

“Jedi in love with people are frowned upon and criticized by others, so often a Jedi feeling love for someone will not admit it, not even to the person they are in love with.” Micah says to save his friend from answering.

“What would happen if two Jedi loved each other and people found out?” Garen asks pushing the conversation along calmly despite wanting to sigh in frustration and roll his eyes at the two.

“They likely wouldn’t tell each other, even if they suspected the other felt the same way.  If people found out I imagine they would be subject to ridicule by many and be constantly fighting accusations of impaired judgement and allowing attachments to come before their job.” Mace tells him significantly calmer now.

“Wouldn’t love be worth that?” Garen asks quietly with sad eyes.  The hope was that his look would seem to be a child whose dreams are being crushed so that neither would deny it and hope would bloom between the two that he was right.

“I suppose that would be for each Jedi to decide individually.” Micah eventually says after locking eyes with Mace and looking back to his padawan.

“I once knew a couple of Jedi in a relationship, they were very well respected in the order and trusted to not let it come between them and their duty.  It never had an effect on their job because they kept everything professional even after moving in together.” Arl tells everyone, “Actually that’s the case for three couples I have known, also a marriage between a Jedi Padawan and a Senator that they kept under wraps.  I mean it ended in the death of one and destruction of the other but the relationship itself was solid.” Arlie tells them all, Mace and Mic both seem hopeful.

“So, there is something that we want to tell you Arlie.” Mace tells her though it is clearly a complete change of topic.

“What’s that?” She asks keeping all of the frustration at her stubborn Master out of her voice as she watches Mace refusing to look at Micah.

“The council has agreed to knight you.  Obviously, given your age you will need to be assigned a partner to work with, but it has been decided that you do not need a teacher.  Had that happened merely a week ago I’d have disagreed but, you have overcome an obstacle and brought another over the same one that no Jedi before you has done.  You have more than earned this.” Mace tells her, she smiles at him.

“Thank you Master.” She says softly as she smiles at him. “Any idea who I am being partnered with?”

“We discussed that and decided that since you worked well together you will be partnered with Dooku.  However, for a while he is going to be at the temple unless his specific skill set is required so that he can help his Padawan recover from his ordeal.  Therefore, you will be partnered with Knight Vos unless Dooku is needed somewhere, then you will accompany him.  Xanatos will likely be knighted soon after his recovery so we want you and Dooku beginning to work together now, we want it to be a more long term partnership since at some point Vos will take a Padawan.” Micah explains, she nods understanding and agreeing with it all.

“She will be brilliant as well.” Arlie whispers thinking of Aayla and wondering if she were lucky enough to have died before order 66 and somehow word had not gotten back to Coruscant yet. “Crap, younglings!  I got to go.” Arl says before sprinting out of the room and not stopping until she reached the crèche despite nearly running into several people and walls.

 

Finally reaching the crèche she notices several of the initiates from earlier who immediately see her and start gathering their friends.  She finds Master Jey-Sahl Penn quickly and decides to attempt to remake her friendship with the kind-hearted Master.

“Excuse me, Master Penn.” Arlie says bowing when she had the woman’s attention.

“Hello, are you a new initiate?  Or perhaps just lost?” Master Penn asks being confused by a youngling being in the temple and her not knowing them, Arl smiles and shakes her head.

“No Master, I am Master Windu’s Padawan.” Arl says, though she supposes it’s more a halfway point between Knight-elect and Knight now, Jey-Sahl bows politely.

“My apologies, Padawan Aa yes?”

“Yes Master.”

“Well, what can I help you with dear?”

“I was hoping to get your help with something.  My Master and I were discussing the number of different species in the Jedi and noted a low number of Wookiee’s.  We were wondering if you could tell us how many Wookiee initiates there currently are?”  She asks as respectfully as she could, the older Master smiles kindly at her.

“There are only two at the moment, Initiates Tillindàar and Nurdruaa.” Master Penn replies, Arl is very glad that using the head of the order’s name opens several avenues that may otherwise be closed to Padawans.

“How old are they?” Arl questions curiously.

“Tillindàar is two years old and Nurdruaa is six years old.” She says, Arl’s eyes light up, Tillindàar, that was her wookiee.

“Thank you so much Master Penn.” Arlie replies as she notices the initiates that watched her and the others sparring all looking at her expectantly as some others come over and sit with them.

“Ah yes, the initiates told me about your demonstration earlier, I remember now, they’ve been waiting eagerly for you.” Jey-Sahl tells her welcoming her into the crèche and walking over to the initiates with her.  They ranged from a few years older than her down to toddlers aged about two or three.  “If you will be all right with the children, I have some babes to check on.” She tells Arl who nods and bows before sitting down.

“You came!” One of the kids from earlier says excitedly, in terms of physical age, the initiates Yoda had been teaching were only three years younger than she was, but they still respected her status as a Padawan.

“I did promise, didn’t I?  Now I believe I owe you some stories.” She tells them immediately noticing the two wookiees of the group, Arl is slightly surprised that Tillindàar is still up given her age but Arl is excited all the same.  Tillindàar walks over and stands before her as though recognising her on some level. “Hello little one, you’re Tillindàar right?” the young girl nods.  “Would you like to sit with me?” the girl nods again and crawls into her lap as best she can given that Arlie’s lap is fairly small.  The younger of the initiates all gravitated towards the older and soon everyone Arlie’s age or older had an initiate younger than Arlie as they waited for her to begin.  “Do you want me to tell you real stories or made up ones?”

“Real!” Some initiates say excitedly, none disagree so Arl nods.

“Tell us about your first mission?” a girl about her age asks, Arlie nods.

“Alright, well Master Mace and I do not go on missions often because he is busy as head of the order.  Most of the time his work is at council meetings and paperwork, meetings with important people from other worlds.  My first mission off of Coruscant was so that my Master could serve as a witness to a treaty signed between two war torn planets.” Arlie says hoping it isn’t too dull.

“Why were they at war?” One of the kids asks, Arlie thinks back, it had been a few weeks after Xan fell but so much had happened since even then.  (Considering I’ve gone on the mission twice now, it should be clearer in my mind but…well my memory has always been shit.)

“Well, the planets are in the same star system, but one of them is a matriarchy and the other is a patriarchy.” She explains, the younglings look at her confused, “A matriarch is a female in charge of everything.  So, a matriarchy is a system of government controlled by females.  A Patriarchy is the opposite, it’s ruled by males.”

“So, they were at war because one planet thinks girls should be the rulers and the other thinks boys should be?” One of the older initiates asks sounding confused.

“Yes, they had been arguing over who controlled the solar system for a long time before deciding if they combined their governing bodies, both planets could claim the solar system.  Which would have been perfect if not for their differing beliefs on rulers.  Master Fisto and his Padawan had been in charge of mediating the peace talks and observing the creation of the treaty, however the planets requested to have a different Jedi witness the signing.  My Master and I went hoping that going personally would show the planets how seriously the Jedi were taking it so that they would as well and the treaty will last.”

“I hope I can be a peace talkerer.  I wanna negoshet a peace tredy one day.” A very young girl says.

“Not me, I wanna solve crimes.  Have you ever been on a mission to solve a crime?” A young boy asks Arlie who smiles.

“I have actually, Master Dooku and I were sent to Telos IV to investigate a series of bombings.” Arlie tells them, it was surprising Arlie that even just speaking of this life, she had had an interesting one.  Two years was a long time for a Jedi Padawan caught up in an internal Sith dispute.

“That was you?  I heard you turned a fallen Jedi!” One of the older initiates asks.

“I heard Master Dooku was dying and you took down the fallen Jedi by yourself.” Another calls.

“I heard you found Xanatos and he tried to kill you both but you talked your way out of it and arrested him.” Arlie resists the urge to sigh, Jedi were such gossips.

“I didn’t turn a fallen Jedi, nor take one down, and Master Dooku was not dying.  He was rendered unconscious by a fallen Jedi, this Jedi was being externally influenced by a bad person and was not at fault for his actions.  All I did was talk the bad person into temporarily leaving the Jedi alone and then brought both he and Master Dooku back.  The formerly fallen Jedi was helped to shield his mind more efficiently and now he’s back to normal and safe.” Arlie tells them hiding the defensiveness from her voice.

“Was he the one that set off the bombs?”

“Under the control of someone else yes.  Or, at the very least took the fall for it…”Arlie trails off.

“What is it?” one of the eldest initiates asks her, Arl looks at her in surprise and recognises her as Siri Tachi. “Quinlan Vos has been mentoring me, I know that look.  You’ve started piecing something together, Quinlan always finds it helpful to say it out loud.” She explains, Arl nods.

“It’s just that the Jedi was from Telos IV and related to quite a well-known person.  If he were sneaking around in the populated places the bombs were set off, someone would have been able to identify him.” She explains.

“If he’s good again why doncha ask him?”

“His memories are quite fuzzy of his time under the influence of the bad person.”

“Can the bad person control all our minds?” one of the initiates about her physical age asks.

“Not if you pay attention to your teachers and learn what they are teaching you.  Your knowledge of the force and of shielding will protect you from that, meditation as well and actually kata’s for discipline.  It all comes together and intertwines, all of our teachings, the lessons and trials we face come together to protect us and enable us to protect others.  That’s what being a Jedi is about and that’s why we are taught the way we are.” Arlie explains, even those older than her seem to take her words to heart.

“So, what are you gonna do about the bombs?” the boy who wants to solve crimes asks.

“I am going to talk to the Jedi involved and Master Dooku.  We will find out what happened and hopefully, we may find something that will lead us to the bad person behind it all.” Arlie explains, they all seem satisfied with her answer.

“You’ll come back and tell us how it goes, won’t you?” Arl smiles at the young girl.

“Of course.” She says.

“Can you tell us the scariest things that’s happened to you?” one of the younglings asks, the elder initiates look at her wide-eyed knowing it’s not a good idea, she smiles at them to let them know she won’t.

“Scariest thing I have ever seen is Master Windu in the mornings before he’s had a cup of tea.” She replies making everyone giggle, except the few that had fallen asleep in the laps of various people.  Or in the case of one girl, slumping against a wall as an excitable toddler sits on her lap wide awake.

“Come now younglings, bed time.  Only the eldest may stay up with Padawan Aa, assuming she does not have to return.” Jey-Sahl says from the doorway, Arlie wonders how much she heard and if Arl will be in trouble for things she told them, however Master Penn smiles at her pleasantly and Arl knows she has made her happy.

“What is the scariest thing you’ve seen?” One of the few allowed to remain asks once the littlies have retired to bed.  Arl thinks through everything, Sith, slavery, massacres, pirates, Sith, war, fallen Jedi, fighting Yoda, the room, more. Kriffing. Sith.

“Something I hope no one else ever has to witness.” Arlie replies with a haunted look in her eye that frightens the initiates, Arl snaps out of it and smiles warmly.  “So, if that girl wants to be a diplomat and the boy wants to solve crimes, what do you guys want to do?”

“I want to save people in wars and things.” A girl who looks to be about twelve responds.

“I want to be a healer.” Another says.

“Me too.” One more replies.

“I sort of do but I want to be a mind healer.”

“I want to be on the council and help run the order.”

“I want to work in the crèche, I like helping the young ones.”

“I want to be a warrior.”  This was followed by three voicing their intention to do the same.  It made Arlie sad knowing that in another life they truly had to be.  But not this one, that war would not happen.

“What about you?” Arlie asks a boy who looks to be thirteen, he looks down shyly.

“I want to go to the agricorps.” He says quietly, Arlie notices some of the mocking looks on a couple of initiates faces and realises why he’s so shy.

“I think that’s brilliant.  Anyone can do that but most don’t want to.  If you go there wanting to do it, you’ll be running the place in no time.” Arlie tells him, he brightens significantly after that, the initiates who had seemed to be mocking him looked thoroughly chastised.

“Can you teach us to fight like you can?”

“If your instructors don’t mind then I can help teach you whenever I am in temple.”  Arl tells them, they seem excited or, in some cases, nervous at the idea.

“My name is Initiate Chaill.  I look forward to learning under you.” The one who wanted to be on the council tells her.

“It is nice to meet you, I look forward to teaching you.” She replies, the other initiates follow suit and introduce themselves as Initiates, Skara, Balik, Dionadair, Danvire, Bo, Siuthad, Novali, Siar, Bhaille and to her great surprise, Thelm Gart.  Arlie fights back the urge to hug Thelm as she remembers the brilliant work the girl did during the war acting as her aid and helping run things.  It was certainly odd seeing her as a ten-year-old and so hopeful.

Soon after, Arl has to return to her quarters, but she is so glad she went and decides to visit more often.  Arlie finds it hard to be around children sometimes knowing that they expect her to act like them and her not being able to.  Somehow though, she feels like she has already earnt their respect which goes a long way to having them treat her like their senior, it makes her feel as though she can make friends with the younglings without having to be one.  Plus, she has to keep an eye on Tilli, it was wonderful for Arl to hold the young wookiee in her arms and know she’s safe, she won’t allow her to be sent to the corps again even if she has to take the girl as a Padawan herself.  That didn’t mean she wouldn’t also take Quilo, she’d just have to find a way.  The Jedi were already evolving, she’d use it to her advantage. 

Arl makes plans in her head to speak with Xan and Dooku about her suspicions tomorrow, as well as find out about Dooku’s date.  Arl smiles giddily thinking of it, she hopes it went well, Dooku needs a life. (Stubborn Masters do too, I may need to recruit more help.  Depa and Tahl maybe?  Depa will know Mace as well as I do at least and Tahl is one of Micah’s oldest friends.  Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are busy helping Xan at the moment so Qui’s out.  Then again, Xan may appreciate the distraction…I’ll think in the morning.) Arl thinks to herself as she walks into her room and finds Garen asleep on her bed. “Yo, asshole.” She says kicking his leg.

“Shush Arls, I left room.” Garen says vaguely gesturing to the spot beside him that he had indeed left despite the bed being tiny, Arl rolls her eyes and just lays down next to him.  (Insufferable best friend and brother-padawan.)  For all her complaints, Arl sleeps more peacefully that night than she had in thirty-six, no seven, no wait…okay ever.  She slept better than she ever had, and she fell asleep smiling.


	7. Chapter 7

_A face, a face she can_ _’t quite see, it_ _’s there, staring at her with sickly yellow eyes, it_ _’s climbing out of the in-between and it_ _’s angry.  She_ _’s seen those eyes before, so hauntingly familiar it made her shiver with the knowledge that she wasn_ _’t the one in danger._

_‘You knew this would happen!_ _’ Obi yells standing in the middle of the council chamber, he_ _’s looking directly at her as she sits in her council chair._ _‘You did nothing! Again!_ _’_ _‘Sacrifices must be made for the greater good._ _’ She replies even as he watches her in horror,_ _‘He was your brother_ _…’_ _‘Some people cannot be saved._ _’  As she finishes the words the windows of the council chamber are shattered, fire from the explosion entering even as the glass rains down around them, she grins manically, finally, after years of waiting, her plan is in motion and the Jedi will fall._

_‘I_ _’m trying to save you dammit!_ _’ Dooku yells over the noise of a building falling down around them,_ _‘I_ _’d rather die than join you!_ _’ she yells back from under the pillar that_ _’s fallen on her._ _‘We were your family and you betrayed us!_ _’ she yells ignoring the tears filling his eyes._ _‘I_ _’m sorry._ _’ He whispers before leaving her there to die,_ _‘COWARD!_ _’ she screams._

_‘I loved you._ _” Garen says as he holds her, his lightsaber through her chest, she can_ _’t breathe.  Blood is pouring over her purple armour as Garen takes the baby from her pliable arms.  Water begins rising around her as he walks away.  Some part of her knows help isn_ _’t coming._

_That face is haunting her, hunting her, it is her._ _‘You should never have come back!_ _’ She yells._ _‘I know._ _’ She says, and she does._

Arl screams as she jolts upwards, someone grabs her arm, she panics and knocks them onto the floor, pinning them as she puts her lightsaber to their throat.

“Arlie, Arls it’s me, it’s Garen.” The voice of her best friend says desperately, she blinks a few times before her eyes widen, recognition dawning as she pulls back and huddles on the floor next to her bed both panting.  Their Masters come running in soon after, immediately seeing the shallow lightsaber burn on Garen’s throat along with the offending weapon in Arlie’s hand, still ignited.

“Arlie?” Mace asks crouching just outside of reaching distance as Mic goes to check on his Padawan.

“I am so very sorry.”  Arl whispers, Mace begins moving slowly towards her before eventually sitting next to her, meanwhile Micah has taken Garen to the healers.

“What happened Padawan?” Arl gives a self-deprecating smile.

“I thought you were knighting me?”

“You’ll always be my Padawan, Arl.”

“I know.” She replies in the way the others have learnt means she’s speaking of future events.  “I’ve been having these dreams ever since I was twenty-three, or thirteen depending on how you look at it.  They’ve only been getting more vivid.  I don’t know what it is but some of it has come true.  At least it partially has, I don’t want anymore of it to happen.  I was trying to bring down the Jedi, and Dooku was evil again and so was my brother.  Garen killed me, there was some evil thing but it wasn’t me in danger, I don’t even know why.  And then there was me, me telling myself that I should never have come back.  What if the dream was right?  What if my presence here is only making things worse?” Arlie asks, Mace just wraps an arm around her shoulder as she begins getting herself under control again.  She was a Jedi Master for force’s sake, a dream should not frighten her so.  “In motion the future always is, and many possible futures there are.” Arlie says when she had calmed down earning herself a funny look from her Master.

“You sound like Yoda.” He says, she chuckles.

“He once said that to Ahsoka when she began having visions of Padmè being killed.  Prescience has never been my forte so I’m afraid I have to defer to his ancient knowledge.” Arl says, it always amuses Mace when she speaks of the Yoda from the other timeline.  He can always tell the difference because the Yoda he is used to she speaks about neutrally or sometimes even a rare fondness, other Yoda gets disdain and judgement.

“You believe them to be visions?” He asks not necessarily disagreeing with her but wanting to know how she feels about it.

“Dreams, visions, it makes no difference.  I may heed it as a warning but it cannot interfere with my own interference of events.  If I want things to go better this time I need to focus on the present with knowledge of the past and awareness of the possible outcomes, not spend all of my time worrying about a specific set of events that may or may not happen.”

“That’s my girl.”  Arl smiles warmly as she snuggles into his side. 

 

Later that day Arlie walks to Dooku’s quarters, knocking and waiting for a brief moment before Xan answers and lets her in.

“Good morning my dear guardian angel.” Xanatos says with a dramatic bow and a wide smile, it truly warmed her heart even with the haunted look still shadowing the happiness in his eyes.  She remembers her father calling her Angel, but this time, she’s flattered by the name instead of terrified.

“Hello to you to Saviour, you’re in a good mood.” She says with a laugh, he nods happily as he pulls her into a hug and twirls her around before leading her into the kitchen.

“Yes, yes I am.  I slept in my own bed last night in my own home with full control over my own mind.  More importantly, I am about to make my first cup of tea in well over a year, care to join me?” He offers as he puts the kettle on, she nods enthusiastically, his good mood catching.  It was only once they were both seated on the floor in the living room, the habit was catching, that she remembered why she was here.  “What’s wrong?” Xan asks immediately noticing her change in mood, she smiles slightly.

“You are far too good at reading me.”

“A fact for which I will not apologise, now come on Arls, what is going on?” He asks lightly though he appeared to be growing concerned.

“I just hate that I am about to ruin your mood, but I did not come here for tea.  I need to speak with you and your Master about Telos IV.” She says mournfully, he sobers instantly looking into his mug as though wishing he could dissolve into it.

“It appears I arrived just in time then.” Dooku says as he walks in the front door, Arlie very obviously cringed at the idea of him just having gotten home, he looks momentarily confused before glowering at her disbelievingly.  “I left early this morning to meet with Yoda, Arl!” He all but growls at her, she is hit with a very intense wave of relief followed by slight disappointment for him.

“Better luck next time?” She offers with a teasing smile, he grabs a cushion and hits her in the face with it.  Hard. “Yeah I deserved that.” She says laughing.  Dooku comes and sits on the couch, as normal people do, beside her head.

“What did you need to speak with us about?” He asks, she sobers.

“The bombs.”

“Gonna need a bit more than that Arls.” Xan says when she doesn’t elaborate, it takes all of her self control not to lose her shit then. 

“You know my older brother used to say the exact same thing to me, well except he called me something else but anyway.”

“Arl Aa do you have some adorable little nickname that we do not know of?” Xan says as though it is the most scandalous thing he has heard, she merely rolls her eyes at him.

“If you were walking around Telos IV people would have been able to identify you.  There were witnesses to who placed the bombs but none could get us an identity.” Arl tells them, Xan looks slightly shocked.

“So, wait, I didn’t plant them?” Xanatos asks confused.

“I have to admit, this did not occur to me, it is however a scenario we must consider.  If not you, then there still may be a terrorist on Telos IV.  Of course, the more likely scenario is that whoever did it was working for the Sith that took over your mind.” Dooku adds, Xanatos shivers at the memory.

“We got distracted after getting to the factory, it is possible there is evidence there to find.” Arl says, Dooku nods thinking it over.

“It is possible, and if there is it could lead us to whoever planted the bomb.”

“Which could then lead us to the Sith.”

“Okay wait stop.” Xanatos says suddenly as he stands and starts pacing the room before stopping in front of them looking frantic.  “Why must the two of you always go looking for trouble?” He asks desperately, the two exchange looks as though the fact has only just occurred to them.  “The bombings have stopped, you got me back and the Sith are not attacking.  Why do you have to try to fix something unbroken?” He says running a hand through his hair as he sits on the couch shaking slightly.

“Xan, it is already broken.  We are trying to prevent more damage from occurring.  Your homeworld may be safe for now but they were there and it could lead us to them now.  These Sith are planning something, all this in fighting, meanwhile we are all in danger and not just from the Sith.  I believe that in defeating the Dark Sith it may bring this order into a new age, one of acceptance and prosperity, one where Jedi are equal and can live in harmony with the rest of the universe.  One where we think ourselves as people and not gods.  One where we can look at facts and accept changes in the way we see things so that others will not be afraid to follow their own beliefs.”  Arlie tells him, Dooku nods in approval smiling slightly at her, she smiles back before returning her attention to her friend.

“He wants you Arleia.” Xanatos tells her in a broken whisper, Dooku looks worried but also confused.

“Where did you hear that name?” She asks sounding concerned, he looks at her with an unhinged smile on his face.

“Did you think he did not know?  How else would he know to use you against his Master?” Xanatos asks before blinking rapidly and slapping his hands over his mouth looking horrified.  “Arlie what is happening?” He asks in a frantic whisper as Dooku uses the force to take his lightsaber away.

“Just in case.” Dooku says looking genuinely regretful but not apologetic.

“I don’t know Saviour, but we are going to figure it out.  I will save you.”  She tells him, he looks at her and laughs.

“How are you going to do that while saving your brother?  Mos Espa, right?  Slave quarters?” He asks mockingly while laughing again, Arl pulls her lightsaber out and points it at him.

“What have you done to him?” She demands, he looks at her with a manic glint in his eye.

“Nothing yet, but tell me.  How quickly can you get to Tatooine, Kitten?” He asks.

_“You seem a little stumped there, Kitten._ _”_

“Arlie, shit, I don’t know what I’m saying.” Xan says looking terrified.

“Stay calm my friend, everything will be all right.” She tells him as she sits in front of him and closes her eyes focusing on following the connection in his mind back to the source while still guarding her own.

**_“Ah my dear, welcome to what I like to call the_ ** **_‘Mindscape_ ** **_’, the landscape in which you will find a way of moving to nearly every mind in the universe.  It is astonishing how far you can travel moving down one bond to another and another and another, some people just do not think things through.  But you my dear, you have but one bond and it is very well shielded._ ** **_” Darth Wrath tells her as a disembodied voice in a place she can_ ** **_’t quite quantify._ **

**_“I shall take that as a compliment despite it being you who gave it.  Tell me, how are you entering his mind?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“People are weak when they are emotional, I simply had to find a weak point and wait for his mind to be off centre enough not to notice my entrance, and you Kitten, gave me the perfect opportunity._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Is that what you hope to do with me too? Threaten my brother in order to throw me off centre?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“No dear, when you join me, it will be your decision.  And believe me, decide you will._ ** **_”_ **

**_“I do not understand, you have had this information all along, why wait until now?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“My plans for my former Master were far more long term, Tyranus would have been dealt with when I destroyed his Padawan.  Except you had to go and fix him, didn_ ** **_’t you?  Now my plans have been moved up because you know of us, which means Plagueis will know.  I can see why he loves you so, he always did love that which destroys my plans._ ** **_”_ **

**_“He has never loved me, I destroyed his manipulative and psychotic plans just as well and I will destroy all of yours as well.  I told you to leave Xan alone and you have not, I do not make empty threats._ ** **_”_ **

**_“You say this, but I no longer feel the rage from you I did before, a pity really.  I shall have to reinvigorate it somehow._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Believe me Darth Wrath, when we finally meet face to face, you will know the true extent of my rage._ ** **_”_ **

**_“I look forward to it._ ** **_”  Arlie feels a change in the_ ** **_‘Mindscape_ ** **_’ and knows Wrath is leaving._ **

**_“Wrath.  One more thing.  Why Sheev Palpatine, why possess him?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“He was always a worthless trash heap, at least this way he is not such a waste of the very oxygen we breathe.  Even if I did have to get rid of his deadbeat kids to take him._ ** **_”_ **

Arlie comes back to the room and notices healers around Xanatos and herself along with Yoda, Mace, Mic, Ki-Adi, Adi, and Depa as well.  Dooku was talking with Yoda and one of the healers explaining what he knew of what happened.

“What in all of the hells were you thinking?” Micah demands as soon as her eyes pull back into focus.

“That I needed a few questions answered.” She replies shortly.

“Get what you needed?” Mace asks though he looks very concerned for her.

“Yes.  I know who Wrath is.  Now I have three things to do and the first is rather time sensitive so Yoda, if you would not mind paying attention?”  Arlie requests not so much impatiently but in the voice of someone used to being listened to.  When she sees Yoda give her his full attention she continues, “I need to go to Tatooine and retrieve my mother and brother, Wrath has threatened my brother.  Either Dooku or myself must return to Telos IV to complete our investigation though preferably we will go together.  And we have to figure out a way to remove Wrath from Sheev Palpatine’s body.  Also, I have realised that he is possessing him and while he can manipulate Sheev’s mind while in a different body, he cannot make him a Sith.”

“Ignoring all else momentarily, why is that?” Dooku asks neutrally though she could feel his confusion coming off of him in waves, either his shielding was faltering (Not likely) or she was not quite out of this ‘Mindscape’ and could feel it through the training bond Dooku had not properly shielded with Xanatos.

“It had been annoying me, I knew there was something I was missing.  Sheev is as force null as you can get.  His midi count at birth was something like eight.  So even if he manipulates Sheev’s mind, without possessing him he cannot use the force.  Also, Dooku, you need to shield your training bond with Xanatos better.  It leaves you vulnerable to Wrath’s attack.  He may reconnect with Xanatos so he should be under constant guard though I do not recommend engaging Wrath in conversation, he is an annoying shit.  Now, Dooku, our investigation led us to the factory, it is possible Xanatos never would have attacked if we did not get that far so whoever goes should begin there, we may have been distracted for a reason beyond Wrath’s desire to show off.  Have I forgotten anything?” Arlie asks out loud as she looks to the ground thinking hard, during the war it had always been a case of, remember instantly or count the loss, she had yet to lose that way of thinking and was not sure she wished to, it was efficient after all.

“Yes, the identity of Darth Wrath.” Master Gallia tells her, Arl nods.

“Thank you, yes something he said tipped me off.  I asked why he possessed Sheev and he said ‘He was always a worthless trash heap, at least this way he is not such a waste of the very oxygen we breathe.  Even if I did have to get rid of his deadbeat kids to take him.’  Bearing in mind what we already knew the answer is quite obvious.” She tells them, they all, except Dooku of course, look to each other and around the room for inspiration with a lost look on all their faces.  Arl thinks that it is progress in that they are not hiding their ignorance or confusion, she is oddly proud of them for that.  “Wrath’s Apprentice killed him for how he treated his son.”  Depa’s eyes light up in understanding as do Yoda’s.

“Palpatine is Wrath’s son.” Depa says aloud.

“Which means Wrath is…” Micah begins saying but trails off when he sees the look on Mace’s face.

“Cosinga Palpatine.” Mace all but growls, he shakes his head and seems more put together though no less angered when he refocuses. “All right, so Arlie goes to Tatooine, retrieves her family, Dooku remains to help Xan during immediate recovery when he regains consciousness.  When Arl returns, she, Dooku, and Vos will go to Telos IV and resume the bombings investigation.  Quinlan will prove helpful, I am sure.  Meanwhile Tahl, Padawan Eerin, and I can begin researching possession and how one might remove someone from the body they possess.”  He dictates going into ‘master of the order mode’ and just about daring anyone to disagree.

“While you are at it, look into several different beliefs on death and unfinished business, things that come after.  Specifically focus on ones involved in the force, Sith, Grey Jedi, back when we were all the same, that sort of thing.  Whatever he’s doing it’s happening after he has died and I would appreciate a more indepth understanding of that before we try to deal with him.” Arl adds, everyone nods in agreement before Micah sniggers, everyone in the room, sans unconscious Padawans, look at him in bewilderment.

“Sorry just, no one is going to comment or question the child helping dictate how the council is reacting to a very sensitive and volatile situation?” Micah asks, no one’s looks change except Mace who rubs his hands over his face in frustration.

“I can give you some of my old research which may aid you in your search.  When I return from Telos I will help you more thoroughly, I may know that library better than anyone save for Yoda and Master Nu.” Dooku says, completely ignoring Micah, before looking to Arlie, “And possibly you.” He adds, she rolls her eyes, no one even seems surprised by his statement.  They had all given up on her making sense.

“I will withdraw money from the order’s accounts so that Master Aa can free her family.  I hate to be callous but how many slaves do you need to…um…purchase?” Master Gallia asks following Dooku’s example of ignoring Micah.

“Two.” Arlie replies not looking at all offended, Adi was only being practical after all.  Arl also failed to realise what Adi had called her much to the other Master’s amusement, it was quickly becoming a game of trying to slip it into conversation without her noticing.  It had not even been a whole day but Jedi gossip quite a bit and half the temple was looking forward to playing.

“I would like to accompany you, I do not like the idea of you going to Tatooine alone.  Knowing you, I would not be surprised if you offended the wrong person and left us with three slaves to purchase.” Depa says without any real malice, Arl mock glares at her.

“I object! I would free them, then get myself resold into slavery.” She says before noticing her Master’s unamused look both she and Depa were receiving.  “None of which will be happening of course because Depa is accompanying me, and Obi-Wan.” She adds, the last part an afterthought.

“Why exactly are we bringing Padawan Kenobi?” Depa questions already beginning to regret her decision.

“Because Qui is going to have enough to deal with over the next few days.”  No one could argue with her on that and so it was agreed that Obi-Wan would accompany them.

“Be careful Depa, from what I have observed, any missions with her, even one, and you’ll never be the same.”  Micah jokes, Depa sends a disbelieving look his way while Adi smirks.

“No, I think that is just prolonged exposure of any kind.” Adi tells him, he slaps a hand over his heart in disbelief.

“Glad to see my presence is so unforgettable.” Arlie replies, everyone chuckles a bit.  “All right, let’s get to work.”

 

Two days later she, Depa and Obi are disembarking from a small transport ship on Tatooine.  It would be cramped returning with five of them but their main objective was speed not comfort.

“So Arl, anything we should know before we meet your family?”  Obi-Wan asks, it was, Depa thought upon reflection, a good question, and one she should have thought to ask.  Arlie wasn’t exactly the most forthcoming person though Depa got the impression she was more open and honest to them than she had been most of her life.  Saying that always felt so natural as though there had been a lot of it before they met her, yet she had been seven when she came to the temple.  Still, Depa had given up on making sense of her sister-padawan, all she had to know was that the girl was on their side, trustworthy, had a compassionate heart, and a strong desire to help.

“Yes, I gave the order a false name.  Well, more of an old nickname I hadn’t gone by in a while.”  Depa rethinks everything she just thought of the girl as they begin walking across the desert, she is, however, eternally grateful that Arlie chose the habitat appropriate clothing for the retrieval mission.

“And what, pray tell, is your real name?” Depa asks mildly surprised, she wasn’t shocked by not knowing something about Arl, only that she had given a fake name, why would she do that?

“Define real name.  Arl Aa was given to me by a very good friend of mine, someone I loved very much.  It was the name I went by for the majority of my life and the one I chose to represent myself with when I joined the Jedi Order.  It was a decision not made lightly and while I do not fully understand it, a part of it was so that my family would not be targeted because of the work I would end up doing.  Technically this is Hego’s fault not my own but still, they are innocent.  So was I.” Arlie says thinking of that man, of all he did, she takes a few deep breaths.  “My birth name was Arleia Skywalker.”

“Your friend was not very creative when giving nicknames.” Depa says, Arlie chuckles.

“He was very high at the time.  He had been drugged by someone and when he saw me he told me I should change my name to Arl Aa coz it sounds like Arleia or some rubbish like that.  He wasn’t making all that much sense at the time.”

“You have interesting friends.” Obi tells her, she inwardly sniggers thinking of the fact that said friend is one of Obi’s best friends, though interestingly, in this timeline Obi seems closer to Bant than to Garen even though the two are still close.  Arlie thinks the difference may actually be in Garen’s altered friendship with Xanatos. 

Ten minutes later the suns are setting and the slave quarters come into view.

“Isn’t it too late to visit someone?” Obi asks concerned.

“Nubians.” Arlie replies with an eyeroll earning a mildly alarmed look from Obi who seemed calmer when she offered him a reassuring smile.  “My family are slaves Little Obi, I had to be sure they’d be done at Watto’s shop since I’d rather not have this conversation in front of him.” She explains, Obi and Depa both nod realising the logic.  Arl freezes a little in front of her old house, she steels herself before knocking on the door, it had only been four years since her mother had last seen her, two or so years since she had last seen her mother.  And yet there was a forty-five-year gap between them that Arlie did not know how to fill, and how was she supposed to see her innocent little brother knowing the atrocities he committed.  It may not have been his fault but she would never be able to forget it happening by his hand, she did not blame him, she simply worried for the memories it had already brought back.

“Hello?”  Shmi Skywalker asks as she opens the door.

“Hello Mum.” Shmi out a hand to her heart as she sucked in a startled breath before releasing it in a quiet sob.

“Arlie, oh my baby girl.” She says embracing her daughter who held her just as tightly, it was a lot less intense for Arlie, doing this for a second time, but she knew what it was like for her mother.

“Mummy?  Who’s that?”  The voice of a five-year-old boy asks from inside the house.

“It’s your sister Ani, she’s home, come say hi.” Shmi tells the boy as she leads the three Jedi into the cramped living quarters.  The boy runs forward excitedly, immediately running to Arlie and hugging her, she wraps her arms around the boy as well.  It had been fourteen years since she had held her brother this way, so much tainted time between them and yet, holding him in her arms as she is now, it all just washed away.  Though she knew one thing now that she did not before, if she had to she would let the galaxy burn for this little boy, but unlike last time, she would not let the boy burn with it.  Hopefully the galaxy could remain intact as well.

“Hello Arlie.” He says smiling at her brightly, she lifts him into her arms, easy given the strength she possessed from her training.

“Hello, Ani, Mum, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine.  This is Depa Billaba and Obi-Wan Kenobi.”  Arlie says purposefully leaving off titles, she did not wish to distress her family with a misunderstanding of the word ‘master’.

“A pleasure to meet you both, would you care to join us for evening meal?  There is not much but…” Shmi begins to say when Ani interrupts.

“I don’t think it matters Mum, they’re here to free us.” He tells her, she sighs.

“Anakin, I know what you have been dreaming but you cannot just…” Shmi begins saying before Arlie interrupts.

“Wait dreaming?  What dreams?” She asks, Shmi throws her hands up in the air.

“Have I taught neither of you that it is impolite to interrupt people?” She asks, Arlie and Ani both look down ashamed.

“Sorry mum/mummy.” They reply falling silent.

“Lady Skywalker, please teach me how to do that, it would save so much time.” Depa jokingly requests to ease the tension that had settled.

“Given the stories Mace has told me of when you were a Padawan I’d suggest that you have nothing over me I do not also have over you.  You can be just as stubborn and annoying.” Arlie defends, Depa gives her a condescending smile.

“Yes, but not nearly as argumentative dear.”

“I am not argumentative.” She pauses for a moment, “Okay I see your point.”

“As amusing as this is, the two of you arguing was not the point of this trip.” Obi reminds them.

“Patience Padawan, you will be faced with worse delays than arguing Jedi Masters in your future and you must deal with them using a level head.” Depa corrects automatically.

“And why don’t you have a Padawan?” Arl asks.

“Too busy helping your Masters with you.”

“Cheeky.” She replies smiling.

“You are Jedi?” Shmi asks bewildered as Anakin smiles smugly.  “Don’t say it Anakin.”

“Ah, back to the topic, what dreams?” Arl asks and promptly ignores Obi-Wan’s mumbled “That was not the topic.”

“I was having dreams that you would come with the Jedi to free us and you’d save Mos Espa from raiders when you do coz it’s gonna attacked.”  The boy tells her, Arlie exchanges what appear to be blank looks with Depa but the two can read the subtleties in their expressions.  It was a necessary skill for Jedi and one that Obi-Wan had yet to learn, though if the future Arl had lived was anything to go by, he’d be bloody good at it when he does.

“Anakin is right in that we are here to free you, though I do hope the town isn’t attacked.” Arlie tells them, Shmi’s eyes widen as she looks to her son, it made Depa unnaturally happy to see that even with freedom in her grasp it was still her son’s future and freedom the woman thought of first.

“I see it you know, the resemblance.” Depa says looking between Shmi and Arlie, both of whom could tell it was not physical attributes she was speaking of.

“Thank you.” Arlie replies happily, then she gets down to business.  “Hey Anakin, would you mind showing Obi around while I talk to Mum for a minute?”

“Sure!  I can show him threepio, he’s a protocol droid that I’m going to make for mum.  I don’t have enough parts to really do it yet but he’s gonna be so cool when I’m done with him.” The little boy says dragging Obi away.

“I assume you did not just suddenly decide to free us then?” Shmi asks though not sounding disappointed, she believed her daughter when she said they would free her and her son.

“Believe me I wanted to a long time ago but I’ve never had access to wuipui to do it.” Arlie says mournfully, Depa looks shocked.

“I’m sure, had you explained the situation to the council…” She begins saying but Arlie cuts her off.

“I’d have gotten a backwards talking to from Yoda about attachment and Master Gallia being deeply apologetic but unfortunately, they can’t very well free every slave in the galaxy.  I understand that and I didn’t expect the order to do that, but things have changed so…”

“So, you went into ‘Master Aa’ mode and gave them no choice.”  Arl rolls her eyes at the description but nods.

“What is it that changed?” Shmi asks trying to keep up with the conversation.  Arlie and Depa exchange looks, neither sure how to answer exactly, Arl knows her mother can keep a cool head in most situations but this was different.  In an ideal world Arlie would relocate them without actually telling them why but, her mother deserved to know the truth, or at least this truth.

“An old friend of Hego Damask is trying to get revenge on him, he’s threatened Anakin.” Shmi looks for a moment like she is going to pass out but quickly rights herself and looks at both Depa and Arlie seriously, thinking only of the safety of her son, when she asks,

“What do we do?”


	8. Chapter 8

“What do we do?” Shmi asks the two of them, yeah, Depa could definitely see the resemblance.

“Well, ideally we find him and gut him but since that isn’t practical, at least for now, we are taking you back to Coruscant.” Arlie explains, her mother looks disapproving, as does Depa.

“Arlie have I not taught you that violence is not the answer?” Arl fights the urge to roll her eyes and instead changes her stance.

“Ice to a Hothian.” Depa mumbles excitedly, she had never seen Arlie do it on someone outside of the order, according to Mace it was quite extraordinary.

“Mother, I appreciate your idealistic thinking but sometimes there is little to no choice.  If I can stop this…man…without killing him, I will.  But he has threatened Anakin, so if I cannot, I will not hesitate to stop him using other means.  This man is worse than Hego and I would not ever say that lightly, if the opportunity presents itself to solve this problem a little more permanently, there will be no hesitation, no second thoughts, I will stop this.  You may believe that violence is not the answer but I know you will agree with me when I say that when Anakin’s life is in danger, it becomes an option.”  Arl says playing on her mother’s need to keep her son safe, it suddenly occurs to Arlie that she’s manipulating her mother for no real reason…too late to turn back now.

“If it keeps him safe I would do anything Arleia, but I would do anything to keep you safe as well.”  It is sad that that did not even occur to Arlie.  “You remember what happened the last time that man was in our lives, he is dangerous, if this person is truly worse than who knows what he is capable of.  I am your Mother, Arlie, I do not want you anywhere near him.  I love Anakin and want to keep him safe, but I think you have forgotten somehow that I want the same for you as well.” Shmi responds.

“Huh, I thought I picked this up on a different planet but perhaps it’s some ‘logically argumentative gene’ or something.” Arlie says more to herself than anyone else but both present heard her.  “Regardless of that mum, I am a Jedi.  It is not always a safe job but it does mean me helping people and keeping them safe.  Stopping this guy is not just about protecting you guys, so long as he is around, everyone is in danger.  You taught me to help people, always, even if it means putting yourself out a bit more than you would like, you taught me not to be greedy.  Why should I be safe if the rest of the galaxy can’t be?”  Arlie’s mother sighs deeply and Arl knows she’s won.

“It is hard to believe you are nine-years-old.” She says to her daughter who smiles sadly.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“So, what happens after we reach Coruscant?”

“Well, my recommendation is that Anakin take the initiates test.” Obi-Wan says carrying the child back out to them.

“What? Wait, why am I surprised, his sister is Arl Aa for gods sakes.” Depa says muttering to herself, Arl smiles in her mind but focuses on Obi-Wan with a seriousness she picked up being a Jedi Master.

“No, you do not understand, his midichlorian count is over twenty thousand.” Obi tells them both.

“Is that bad?” Ani asks looking afraid, Obi looks guilty at having frightened the child.

“No Ani, midichlorians are a part of your blood that Jedi use to determine force sensitive children from force null.  You have to have a certain amount before you are considered for the crèche.” Arlie explains.

“Oh, how many do you have?” The boy asks, Shmi turns to her curiously but after a beat, Obi and Depa do too after realising they don’t know, Arl just shrugs.

“No idea, never been tested.”

“How have you never been tested, you’ve been in the temple for how many years?” Depa asks incredulously but also attempting to trip her up.  Everyone was convinced there was something funky going on with her and her experience.  Dooku had led that charge though he never discussed it with anyone, around the time he stopped looking was around the time the nickname ‘Master Aa’ first left his mouth, Depa took that as more encouragement to find out what was up with her sister-padawan.

“Two, and do you remember how I showed my force sensitivity?”

“Apart from knowing everything about us that you should not know, which you still have not explained, you also made our dear Master afraid of ice.” Arl chuckles knowing it wasn’t quite accurate but he wasn’t exactly fond of the substance.

“Wait, that really happened?” Obi asks confused, Arl nods, “What about the rumour that you used to be a pirate?” Arl bangs her head very purposefully against the wall of the hut.

“Why. Does. This. Happen. Every. Time.” She says accentuating each word with another bang of her head. “In any case, I have never been tested and so I have no idea.”

“Why do you not find out? Clearly Mister Kenobi can do that.” Shmi asks, Depa turns to Obi-Wan.

“Yes, how did you do that?” She asks thinking he’d have had to go to the ship.

“A while ago, Arlie found a way to link the ships midichlorian metre up to the comm.” He explains, Depa nods now vaguely remembering that conversation.

“All right then let’s find out?” Depa suggests, Arlie shrugs.

“Why not?” She says allowing her friend to take a blood sample and test it.

“We have to wait until we get back to the ship.” He says after a moment confusing everyone. “You broke the scale, it just says error.” He tells them after noticing the looks.

“Maybe I need to have another look at the connection when we get back, technology has never really been my thing but perhaps I’ll see something wrong with it?”

“You thought it up in the first place.” Depa tells her.

“Yeah, the idea, not the mechanics behind it.”

“Do all Jedi teams get along this well?” Shmi asks incredulously at the display before her, Obi snickers while Depa and Arlie look suitably sheepish.

“We’ve been cooped up together on a small ship for two days, it’s the first time Depa and I have spent a lot of time with each other outside of council sessions so…” Arlie begins to explain when Depa cuts in.

“So, I am not yet used to putting up with her.” Depa says with a teasing smile, Arl rolls her eyes but the humorous smile on her face ruined the effect.

“That and they had the same Master before they were knighted, they both picked up a few of his habits so when they bicker they tend to do it in the same way which furthers the bickering.” Obi-Wan explains, “Xan and I do the same thing I have discovered.  Garen and Arlie too but to a lesser extent, probably because of Master Micah.” The two girls nod in agreement at his assessment.

“I thought knighting took years?  You said you had only been there for two years.” Shmi says confused.

“I am a very quick learner.” Depa holds back the derisive snort Arlie’s words brought forth and held her tongue knowing this wasn’t the time.

“I thought you were free?” Anakin says suspiciously, Arlie looks confused for a moment before it clicks, Depa and Obi continue to look confused.

“The Jedi use the word Master to mean teacher. See you starts out as an initiate in the crèche, then a Knight or Master will take you as their student and you become a padawan.  When your Master believes you have learnt all you can from them they knight you, then eventually when the council decides you are ready, often after training your first padawan to knighthood, you obtain your mastery.” Arlie explains.

“Miss Billaba called you Master Aa earlier.”

“That is more of a nickname than anything, a good friend of mine, Master Dooku, was teasing me about being ahead of everyone and made the joke, calling me Master Aa.  He continued it and when the others heard it, it started catching.  Jedi can be massive gossips so despite the fact that this happened four days ago it has gotten around to probably the entire temple by this point.” Arl says looking vaguely irritated though more at Jedi being gossips than the joke itself.

“See, as you have witnessed she is not like most kids her age, a lot of us frequently forget how old she is.  Our former Master is the head of the order so when in council sessions she was in too.  She’s never really grasped the concept of padawans remaining quiet during them, most turned into some philosophical debate and honestly, we have actively asked her opinion on more than one occasion.  The other Council Padawan too now that I think about it.  In any case it is much easier and more intelligent to treat her as an equal than the underling her rank would suggest.  When she goes into ‘Master Aa’ mode it really just means she’s forgotten to use the ‘Advanced but still a Padawan’ façade entirely.” Depa explains to Shmi and also to Anakin who is listening intently, wanting to know more about his sister.

“It’s not a façade, it is literally what I am, well technically I’m newly knighted now but that is beside the point.”

“Well, seeing as we are being freed, how about we eat all of the food we have and all get, well, proper sized meals I’d imagine.” Shmi says with a slightly forced smile.

“I’ll help.” Arlie offers when Obi pulls her back.

“No, you won’t, I will.  We wish to eat Arlie, not be poisoned on a planet with no real medical care.” He tells her, “Do not ever let her in the kitchen except to make tea.” Obi warns her mother who laughs as he takes her by the elbow and the two walk off.

“So, if you two had the same Master, does that mean you were taught together?” Anakin asks showing the intelligence Arlie knew he possessed.

“No, Depa was knighted long before I arrived.” Arlie explains.

“What it does mean is that we are, what Jedi call, sister-padawans.” Depa adds.

“Padans who got the same Master, like Arlie and I got the same Mum?”

“Padawans, and Arlie and I _have_ the same mum, but yes just like that.” Arlie says correcting his Basic, she knows it is not his first language since Shmi made sure he would understand Huttese and Toydarian first so she wanted to help him with it.  Given that he has likely only been focusing on Basic for a year or two she thinks he is doing remarkably well.

“So, you have a Jedi sister and a Kin brother?” He asks nibbling on the end of his thumb as his face is scrunched up in thought.  He leads them over to the dining room table and sits on Depa’s lap, she smiles warmly at him.  Arlie, out of habit, sits on the actual table with her legs crossed.

“Arleia Skywalker if I walk out there and you are on the table that we eat at again I am not going to be impressed.” Shmi calls from the kitchen, Arl looks sheepish as she slides off of the table and onto a chair.

“I swear she has table sitting radar or something.” Arlie says irritably.

“She got that with droid parts on the table too.” Anakin tells her in a loud whisper.

“Must be a novelty for you Arlie, sitting on a chair instead of the table or floor.” Depa says mockingly, Anakin laughs at her, Arlie huffs.

“Okay, where I grew up it was my brother that started that habit so blame him.” Arlie says automatically.

“I didn’t do nothing.” Anakin says looking affronted.

“Different brother.” Arlie says wincing as she notices her slip, Depa looks far too satisfied.

“Jedi brother?”

“No, though I have one of those too.  I was taken in by a family at one point and had two brothers there, a baby named Sonny and an older brother named Trick. Well his name was Patrick but I give everyone nicknames so yeah.” Arlie explains.

“So, what you are saying is, you got sold from your mother, spent two years flying around the outer rim, was kidnapped by the trade federation and then saved, but apparently somewhere in there you were both trained to use the force and raised by a loving family?” Depa asks looking extremely smug.

“Yes, that’s what I am saying.” Arlie replies straight-faced, it wasn’t inaccurate at all and she knew the force would show her telling the truth.  Depa saw this and it confused her greatly but she tucked it into the back of her mind for later examination.

“If I work this out and tell you what I think, will you tell me if I am right?” Depa asks curiously.

“There is nothing to work out, but when you accept that and tell me, I will tell you you are right.” Arlie replies, Depa nods understanding that she will tell Depa when she gets it.

“Does that go for everyone?  Because I will make this a race with money in a pool and everything.” Depa swears looking far too serious, Arlie just laughs at her.

“Best start the clock then.” She replies, Depa smiles, so does Anakin.

“Oh, I wanna play too.” He says, Depa decides the mind of a child may work in her favour, far more likely to think of scenarios she’s subconsciously ruled out as impossible.

“Want to be on a team?” Depa asks, Anakin nods happily. “Okay so what we know is, she is somehow trained as well as, if not better than a proper Jedi Master, but we did not train her.  She seems like an adult sometimes but is a child.  She knows things about everyone that she has no way of knowing and she is far too used to being listened to for an average Jedi.  Also, she has apparently been raised by a family somewhere when there is no time for that to have happened.  And she knows a lot about the evil we are currently facing even though it was supposedly extinct for thousands of years.”

“I am confused.” Anakin replies after a few moments of intense thinking, Depa laughs.

“Yeah, me too. But we will work it out.  Oh and Arlie, anyone who already knows the answer cannot participate in the game.  No Dooku, no Mace, no Micah, no Garen.  No whoever else who may know.” Depa says, Arl rolls her eyes.

“Sure, yeah, no including the people who already know nothing is amiss.”

“I’m not sure I appreciate the snark going on in here Arlie, it is unbecoming.” Shmi says as she and Obi carry out food.

“Sorry Mum.” Arlie replies looking down at the table.

“I am so glad you are coming back with us Lady Skywalker, many on the council would love lessons on how to do that.” Obi tells Shmi grinning, Arl rolls her eyes, she’d been doing that a lot today.  She was fifty years old and acting like a teenager, stupid nine-year-old body making it hard to control her emotions.  The lack of meditation over the last few days probably did not help but she preferred to wait until she knew her family was safe.  Depa thought that that was exactly why she should have meditated on the way to Tatooine but Arlie was used to running a war on little to no sleep or meditation, she’d be fine for a simple retrieval.  She did not take her mother into account.

“You do not listen to your superiors?” Shmi questions her daughter admonishingly.

“Why should I listen to them when I know they are wrong?  Or at the very least start a discussion about it.  No decision should be made without someone making the arguments against it, that way it is fully thought through.” Arlie replies.

“Hang on, that’s what you have been doing?  Playing devil’s advocate even when you agree with us?” Depa asks surprised.

“Well I do not always disagree with you but if someone doesn’t challenge you then you will stop seeing both sides.  I am simply giving you more to think about and sometimes I change your mind and also my own, sometimes I don’t agree with the decision you make even though I am the one that argued the point.  But at least by that point I’ll know you have made the decision because you agree with it and not because you haven’t thought it through.” Arlie tells them, they all seem stunned.  “I just think that the Jedi Council make decisions of great importance that affect a great number of people who deserve a decision fully thought through.”

“I see what you mean.” Shmi tells Depa who nods, Arl withholds the eye roll this time.  Pleasant conversation carries throughout dinner as Arlie makes a conscious effort to hold back her sarcastic tendencies.  Two years ago it would not have been a problem but, despite them viewing her as an equal a lot of the time, people still often treated her as a child and as a result she feels she has regressed somewhat.  She could not afford to.

That night Anakin shared a room with his mother while Obi-Wan and Arl shared his and Depa slept on the couch.  Arlie spent the night meditating on the future as she sat on the small amount of floor in Anakin’s room.

(Dooku is a Sith, but he hates Sidious, the real Sidious.  So why did he join him in the future?  Especially since he killed his Apprentice.  Threats of people he cares for are my first thought but the war he waged put everyone at risk so it makes no sense.  Dooku hasn’t yet gotten himself into the situation that had him leaving the order, he said his usefulness would soon be at an end and he wanted to get out before he did more damage or there was blood on his hands or something.  In any case, he must have been working against the order from inside it, but why?  He outed himself as a Sith years later anyway so it can’t have been that, unless it was and something changed in that time?  Perhaps he found something in his research of the Sith?  Wait, why was he researching the Sith…he is one.  Maybe he wasn’t and that was a cover for both his knowledge of them and also what he was really looking into.  Anytime she asked about his research he told her of the Sith and he would help her with her research of the dark side but he never showed her his research.  Except very briefly while looking into the Sith’s code.  Maybe the Sith’s code changed over time like the Jedi code did, that would make sense.  But he can’t have been researching that for the decades he was supposedly researching the Sith.  We do not know much about Sith history, many records have been lost to time or destroyed in the Sith war so he cannot have been looking into it for decades anyway, he’d have run out of material.  The only reason I didn’t in the decade or so that I looked into the dark side is because he gave me more.  Maybe he started looking into something specific and nothing was there, maybe he started looking into the difference between the codes, where it started, how it changed.  Maybe he found, nothing.  Literally nothing.  I did not come across anything except a very brief mention of the Grey Jedi code.  I did not even learn the Sith code until Yoda said it during the war and then Sidious…anyway.  But if that information has been lost it is very specific.  So perhaps Dooku looked into how it was lost as well, but what could he have found?)  Arl sighs in frustration before reinstating her meditative state, (I guess I have a new research project.  Next topic.

Yinchorr, the battle is next year.  If I start planning a battle strategy now, then I can present it to them before we fight and we can win without Micah nearly dying, before a lot of people die.  I have a lot of experience with battles now and I know what the Yinchorri will do to certain things.  Okay that’s decided.

Naboo.  I have a few years left before then but Qui and Obi just are not learning things quick enough.  I should have started sooner, then again, if my attempt to teach the healers force-magic healing is any indication, I may just be a terrible teacher.  Quilo learnt how to run a war but I had little chance to teach her to be a Jedi, I fear it was that way for many padawans, a few it was all they knew.  People like Ani had only been Knights during the war and would have been lost if it had ended differently and we had won.  This is off topic.  I am just going to have to join them when they go to Naboo and I will deal with Maul myself.  Why was Maul there anyway, Sidious didn’t need the blockade to succeed and all it did was reveal the Sith.  Unless he was supposed to kill Qui-Gon, Xanatos wasn’t his padawan the first time, sure controlling his grand-padawan would have been horrible but then killing his apprentice, that would be Wrath’s revenge on Dooku.  Given that he failed with Xanatos this time, Qui-Gon is still going to be a target for Maul then.  Wait, what if Maul is just another one of Wrath’s puppets?) Arlie opens her eyes and looks to the boy on the bed behind her, in a few years he’ll be in love with his Master, and he will watch him die. (I know that pain, I won’t let him feel it.  God forgive me but puppet or not, I will kill Maul.  It is not worth that risk.)

Arlie gets up and walks out the front door, wrapping her cloak around her tighter against the cold desert air. (When did I start deciding who lives and who dies?)

_“And doesn_ _’t that make you feel like a god._ _”_

_“No, because the minute I start thinking that I become the devil._ _”_

(The war, I can be honest with myself, that is when it started.  My focus was once to save as many people as I can, somehow it devolved into win as many battles as I can.  I was so deluded into thinking it was the same thing I have forgotten my humanity.  No one deserves to die, but now I may be killing an innocent man who is suffering.) Arlie thinks as she looks over Mos Espa, or what she can see from up here anyway.

“You seem troubled Master Aa, I can sense it.” Depa says coming to stand next to her, Arl smiles at her in the dark, she uses force magic to create a ball of light that floats between them illuminating them both. 

“I shattered an illusion I was under, one of my own creation.  Now I do not know what to do with the pieces.” Arlie tells her, Depa nods thoughtfully as she looks forward.

“I was once under the illusion that my Master could not be hurt.  He was the head of the order, the best fighter save for perhaps Yoda and Micah.  I believed him untouchable, a god amongst men.” Depa tells her, Arl smiles, remembering thinking the same of her Dad on Earth.  The shattering of that illusion is why she never fell under the same one with her Master.

“What happened?” Arl asks, Depa sighs, leaning on her arms against the half wall lining the porch.

“He nearly died saving my life, was in a coma for a week.  Several months of rehab during which I was assigned a Temporary Master.  He came back on of course, took me back and we continued on as we had before except, now my illusion of him had been shattered and for a while I was very lost.  Where did that leave me if my Master could not protect himself?” Depa explains, Arl listens intently, “In the end I spoke to Yoda.  I said I knew he would try his best but how could my Master keep me safe when he himself had been hurt.  Yoda said ‘do or do not, there is no try.  Hurt your Master was, uninjured you were. Be hurt, even die we all will, how we spend that time determines if a hero we are. Protect you he did, continue to he will.’ I realised he was right but I also realised that I had to learn to protect myself too.” Depa explains.

“When I was younger I was an arrogant prick, so cynical to the world I believed no one else was even trying to help anyone, least of all me.  I got over that eventually but I never quite got over the habit of trying to solve everything on my own first.  I forget sometimes that there are people who can help me.” Arlie tells her, Depa doesn’t even question the ‘when I was younger’ part.  “At some point though I ended up being exactly what I feared everyone else doing, I stopped trying to help people, too caught up in the bigger picture to realise the effect my actions had on those I thought I was protecting.  Now here I am, making a decision about a situation I thought I knew so very much about that I could not possibly be wrong.  But there is so much I do not know, so much I did not care to.” 

“So, what are you going to do?” Depa asks her, Arl thinks deeply for a moment.

_“All I_ _’ve ever wanted is to help people._ _”_

“I am going to do what I should have been doing all along.  Protect those that cannot protect themselves.” Arlie says, Depa looks proud, “Depa, the thing about sentient beings is, every one of them has a weakness but, sometimes those weaknesses can make themselves a strength.” Arlie tells her with a smile before wandering back inside and finally going to sleep.

 

The next day Arlie and Depa went to Watto’s shop, they had a plan that Depa would pretend not to speak Basic so even though she was the one buying the slaves, Arlie would do all the talking.  That way Watto wouldn’t think he was actually bartering with a nine-year-old and Depa didn’t have to suddenly learn how to barter for slaves on Tatooine.  Meanwhile Depa and Arlie would converse in her native language, the language of the Chalactan people.

When they enter, Depa immediately gives a Chalactan morning greeting of respect which Arlie translates into Toydarian.

“What do you want?” Watto asks, also in Toydarian, not liking off-worlders.

“This is Master Billaba of the Jedi Order.  You have two slaves that she wishes to buy off you.” Arlie tells him.

“Thought the Jedi Order didn’t engage in slavery.” Watto says suspiciously, Arl gives a disarming smile.

“I assure you, our intention is to free them not further their slavery.” Arlie tells him, he glares at her.

“Two slaves will be pricy, how you gonna pay for it?  And no Republic Credits, they’re worthless out here.” He says, she tells Depa what he said in Chalactan so that she can keep up with the conversation since she does not speak Toydarian.

“Are you sure we have enough for this?” Depa asks Arl nods to her knowing to Watto it would appear that she is nodding in understanding of the instructions she’s been given.

“We have wuipui, enough for the two slaves.” Arl replies switching back to Toydarian.

“Whaddya want with my slaves anyway?” Watto asks not looking happy at the prospect of selling them.

“I will pay you extra to not ask questions and even more to leave Master Billaba’s name out of it should anyone come asking questions.  Feel free to dob in the order but leave her out of it.” Arl says bouncing the credit pouch in her hand so that he could hear the rattle.

“She is not really the one negotiating here is she huh?” Watto asks, Arlie stays outwardly calm but inside she curses herself, rookie slip. “It’s alright, I recognise you.  Shmi’s daughter, of course you want to free them.  I’m a family man, not unreasonable, shall we say, 20’000 wuipui?” Arlie scoffs.

“15’000, they’re both overworked and the boy’s growth may have been stunted from malnutrition.” Arlie says immediately going into barter mode, he looks a little shocked at the callousness of her words about her own family but also oddly impressed.

“He’s a bright boy, talented mechanic, 18’000.”

“18’000 and the parts he’s no doubt had his eye on for the damn protocol droid.” Arlie counters, Watto thinks it over.

“The boy has his eye on everything, three high value parts or six low value parts.” He suggests. Arl raises an eyebrow, “And he can have the power source he wants.” Arl holds out a hand and shakes his.

“Deal.” She says and hands over the money getting the transmitters for the two in return. “Master Billaba will bring Anakin in to choose his parts.” Arlie says before turning and walking out.

“How’d we do?” Depa asks when they are a sufficient distance away, Arl smiles brightly.

“They are free, Anakin has some parts of his choosing and we have 7’000 wuipui left over.”

“Well colour me impressed.” Depa replies with a laugh.  When they get back Shmi and Obi-Wan have packed the meagre belongings and Anakin has gotten threepio transportable.

“All right, Mum, Obi and I are going to help move this stuff to the ship while Anakin and Depa go to pick up his new parts from Watto.  You get either three high value parts or six low value parts plus the power source you want for C3PO.” Arlie tells her, Shmi looks shocked while Anakin’s eyes widen.

“Wizard! Come on Obi.” He says dragging the older boy along behind him.

An hour later they were on their way back to Coruscant, Anakin was explaining the different parts he had gotten to Arlie as Depa and Shmi watch from a safe distance.

“Does she ever act her age?” Shmi asks watching Arlie listening to Anakin with an indulgent smile.

“To be honest Lady Skywalker, I’m not sure that she isn’t.” Depa replies.


	9. Chapter 9

A little while after Shmi and Depa’s conversation Anakin looks up at his big sister.

“Arlie, I don’t understand.  My dream was right coz you showed up but it was wrong coz we weren’t attacked.” He says, she smiles kindly at him.

“Visions of a possible future are not uncommon amongst force-sensitive beings like you.  But that’s what they are, possible futures.  The future is always in motion, that means that even if you see it, it may not happen.” Arlie replies, she thinks Yoda would be proud of her for that one.

“So I shouldn’t listen to them, but what if they are right? What if something bad is gonna happen, shouldn’t I stop it?”

“And what if in trying to stop it you make it happen?” Anakin looks stumped. “Do you know what instincts are?” He nods, “I always think of it like that.  The force’s instincts tell it that something may go bad so it shows you to warn you just like Mum may warn you when her instincts tell her the same thing.  How you react to that warning is up to you, it is wise to take it into consideration and remember the warning, but it is not wise to allow the vision to dictate your every move.”

“So you havta find a middle?” Anakin asks her, she nods.

“Many Jedi struggle to find a balance, but there will always be those to help guide you as you work it out for yourself.”

“I think I understand now.” He replies happily.

“Please go on teaching rotation.” Depa requests, Arlie laughs just as Obi-Wan exits the cockpit, why he was even in there Arl has no idea given the autopilot is on.

“So, it wasn’t the connection that was the problem.  Something is wrong with the midichlorian metre itself.” He tells them.

“What do you mean?” Arlie asks, Obi shuffles awkwardly on his feet.

“Well the readings were just a bunch of zeros but we know you are not force null, no one is that force null.  So, either the metre is broken or your count is too high for it to count.” Obi says.

“Well then, we’ll get it fixed when we get back, it’s not like I need to know my count anyway.” Arlie reminds him, he perks up a bit.

“What are you doing Ani?” Obi asks the child who immediately restarts the explanation he had been giving Arlie.

The next two days were interesting. 

 

Finally they landed on Coruscant, but true to sibling form, Arlie and Ani were arguing.

“I didn’t do it!” Anakin says as they walk off of the ship, Mace, Micah, Garen, Yoda, Qui-Gon and Xanatos waiting for them.

“Well no one else would have and you were playing with it.”

“Was not.”

“Were too.”

“Was not.”

“Were too.”

“Children! Separate.” Shmi orders as she stands at the top of the ramp with her arms crossed, Arlie and Anakin both immediately step away from each other.  Depa walks out next smirking as she carries Anakin’s bag.

“Hey kid, instead of arguing with your sister come help with your droid.” Obi yells from inside the ship, Anakin goes running back in.

“Arlie are you tormenting your brother already?” Micah asks teasingly, Arl glares at him.

“He started it.” She mutters but quickly stops pouting when her Mother sends her a disapproving look. “Right, Mum this is Masters Yoda, Windu, Giiett, and Jinn and Padawans Du Crion and Muln.  Masters, this is my mother, Shmi Skywalker.”

“Lady Skywalker, it’s an honour to finally meet you.” Mace says bowing to her, she looks a little uncomfortable, certainly not used to this treatment but she smiles and awkwardly bows back.

“And you Master Windu, I have heard quite a bit about you, all of you actually, over the last two days.  I really appreciate everything you have done for Arleia.” Shmi says earning confused looks from everyone but Garen.

“Arleia?” Micah asks Arlie who has the decency to look mildly sheepish at least.

“Arlieeeeeeee.” Two voices call from inside the ship.

“I got this, you go find out what they broke.” Depa says, she smiles in thanks before running in.

“Well you two are getting along well.” Mace says earning a wicked smile from his former Padawan.

“Yes, we’ve been exchanging Padawan stories.” She replies innocently, Mace’s hand twitches as he fights off the urge to run a hand over his face.  “I am glad to see you are doing better Xan, where is your Master?”

“He and Master Tahl have been buried under books and research papers since you left.  If not for Bant and Master Windu I doubt they’d have eaten.” Xanatos replies.

“And on this day, no one was surprised.” Arl says walking back out from the ship, Obi and Ani in tow and threepio along with his loose parts floating in front of them in a purple hue.  “Hello Saviour.” Arl says with a smile as she runs forth and hugs him, he laughs and hugs her back.

“I feel as though I should be calling you that.” He says with a smile.

“Maybe wait til I actually save you first.” She replies with a sad smile. Arlie’s comm begins chiming, she apologises to her company as she answers it seeing it is Dooku. “Master Dooku, we’ve arrived back.”

“Brilliant, we need your help.  Any chance you speak a rare variant of what is either the Ancient Language of the Jedi or Old Sith.” The Jedi present look interested and confused at the statement.

“Those two are really quite different Doo.” Arl replies looking just confused as the others.

“Yes, I realise that thank you Arl, would you just get down here assuming your sass level is not currently too great to fit through a doorway?” Dooku replies sassily, Mace looks like he’s about to piss himself laughing at Arlie’s dumbfounded but amused expression as she regards her comm.

“Yes of course my dear thoroughly disciplined and esteemed diplomatic Jedi partner.” Arlie says still amusedly shocked.

“If you two are done would you get her down here before I shred this force forsaken page?” Tahl asks in the back ground followed by, “Bant, that’s not your food, that is the ancient text we are studying that has been protected in these archives for hundreds of years, do. Not. Bite it!” Mace loses his shit laughing, very unlike him and so earns him some shocked looks but really how else was one supposed to respond to such a statement being said so seriously?

“Okay, I will come down assuming Bant goes and naps.” Arlie says ending the call. “So, I am going to go find out what in all the bleeding hells those three have found, will you two be okay? I will come by as soon as I can.” She says looking to her mother, her brother grumpily runs up to her.

“Can I come with you?” He asks latching onto her waist and putting his head on her chest.

“Anakin, you and mum are going to get a tour and settle in and…” Arlie begins to say when Yoda shakes his head.

“Go with you perhaps he should.  Much to discuss we have with Lady Skywalker.” Yoda says, Arlie fights the urge to narrow her eyes at him though does regard him with an unhappy kind of aura.

“Garen, you and Obi-Wan collectively know about as much as I do of the situation, how about the two of you sit in on these discussions to help out?” She suggests knowing the two will not allow her Mother to be needlessly interrogated about subjects she’d rather not be.

“I may know more.” Xanatos adds but Arlie shakes her head.

“I do not wish to put you through that Xan.”

“I’ll be fine, plus I would like a chance to get to know the woman who raised such an amazing young lady.” Xanatos says all innocent grins, Arl mock glares at him.

“You are just hoping she has embarrassing stories of me.”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes, mainly because I did the same by asking Qui.”

“Sounds like you may deserve it then Arleia.” Shmi adds with a smile.  “I would prefer Ani stay with me if that is all right.” Yoda bows his consent and Arlie smiles, happy the troll was accepting her choice.

“You know Lady Skywalker, Xanatos and I have a lot we could share with you as well.” Garen adds holding his arm out for her to take, she does with a smile as she recognises this boy as her daughter’s best friend she had spoken about, and Xanatos as her other close friend.

“There is very little you could tell each other, it’s fine.” Arlie says walking away to the library.

 

When she arrives, she finds Bant asleep slumped on the table, Tahl leaning back in her chair with her hands over her eyes and Dooku staring defeatedly at the ancient script he mentioned.  Arl smiles at the picture the three give and takes a holo with her comm, very glad she gave the suggestion for such a thing to be added.  She then heads straight over to the material Dooku is now glaring at like it offended the entirety of his lineage, she does not bother with introductions before subjecting it to her scrutiny. 

 

ndị nwere nke a aru

 

nwere e outlawed kemgbe e kere anyị hụrụ n'anya ka. Onye Okike, ọ si mesoo ya na ya na ị na chere na ọ obi na nnọọ erubeghị uche nke ike na usoro ebumpụta ụwa nke ihe. lasasịa a nwere spirit onye nanị nwere adọwa ya site mmadụ bi ahu. mgbe dispersion mkpụrụ obi nwere ike ma na-rekasịrị ma ọ bụ na ọ nwere ike dị. mkpụrụ obi dsintegration bụ naanị a completable feat maka kere Otú ọ dị ka nwere a spirit niile otu ga-eme bụ uche ya na na collection, anyị na-achọ gị chi gị ego. 

“Dooku, you’ve no idea what you have found.  This text, I believe it to be the language used when the Jedi and the Sith were one force worshipping cult.” Arlie tells him, he and Tahl listen closely, both moving closer in to listen to her. 

“I did not know we had artefacts dating back that far.” Dooku says, Tahl shakes her head.

“We do not, this is not that old, a few hundred years maximum.”

“Indeed, so how did someone a few hundred years ago know a language that would have been outdated fifteen thousand years before they were born?” Arlie asks, the three stare intently at the paper before them, honest to god PAPER, not flimsiplast.

“Can you read it?” Tahl questions her, Arl bites her lip in uncertainty, a habit that always seems to return in childhood no matter how many times she loses it throughout her teenaged years. 

(That should not be a sentence that makes sense, what is my life?) she thinks amusedly, “No, well, I can’t understand the language fluently but if you look at the similarities between Old Sith and Ancient Jedi those first two words would mean Body possession. Or more accurately something along the lines of ‘the possessing of a body’ but I’d have to work with it closely.  To tell you the truth, mastering ancient languages is not something I have put a lot of effort into, much as I love historical research, I’ve not had a lot of time for it in recent years.” Arl admits, Dooku looks thoughtful.

“I may be able to, I have worked a lot with both languages.  It is an odd mix but I do see how Arlie translated the beginning.  Unfortunately, we’ve that trip to Telos IV to complete so this may have to wait until we return.” Dooku says looking positively heartbroken at the concept of this being left untranslated for possibly a few weeks.

“If you delay for a few days, give me a starting point on this I may be able to complete the translation while the two of you investigate the bombings.” Tahl tells them, Dooku looks to Arlie like a child who had requested five more minutes before bed time.

“Okay first of all, that is adorable.  Second, having a few days to help settle my family in and work on this would be ideal, but the longer we wait the more likely news of our impending reinvestigation could get back to Wrath and he can destroy any evidence.  Tahl, try your hand at translating it while we are away however we all need to leave it alone tonight.  You’ll get nowhere if you are tired and hungry.  Dooku, you, Vos, and I will leave at 7th hour tomorrow so I suggest you spend some time with your Padawan.  We’ll puzzle it out when we get back, however if there is anything in particular you cannot get or need clarification on, you can always comm us.” Arl says to Tahl who nods in agreement, Dooku looks unhappy but seems to agree.

Arlie invites Dooku to the dinner that was planned in her absence in Mace’s quarters with Micah, Garen, Shmi, Ani, Xanatos, Depa, Qui-Gon, Obi and now Dooku.

 

Arlie and Dooku both head to her quarters as Arlie pesters Dooku for information regarding his date.

“How was it?  Did you find the book?  Did she like it?”  Arlie asks smirking, he rolls his eyes and lets loose a long-suffering sigh.

“It was good, yes I found the book, and she loved it.  Thank you for the suggestion, now quit pestering me.” She laughs excitedly.

“But it is so much fun!  Plus, either this didn’t happen last time or you did not share it with me so it is one of the few things I know nothing about with everyone here.” Arl complains, Dooku’s expression softens fractionally, not that anyone but her, Qui-Gon, and perhaps Xan would be able to notice.

“I’ll admit, I had not thought of that, but I could just as easily pester you about your love life.”

“I have no love life for you to pester me about.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Garen, Xanatos, plus your weirdness around Padawan’s Bellan and Reeft.” Dooku says with a mocking grin rarely seen by others, she knew it well.  He mocked her often, the bastard.

“I do not know what you mean.” She replies, he smirks.

“Sure you don’t.” He says as they walk in through the open door.

“You should keep your nose out of other people’s business.” She says unhappily, he laughs outright.

“Coming from you that is rich my dear fellow Jedi Master.”

“Oh, shut it.” She replies playfully shoving him and laughing.

“That’s still weird.” Garen mutters, Arlie turns and sees everyone already sitting around the dining room table she had honestly forgotten they owned.  “Master Dooku has a laugh.” Micah hides a laugh behind his hand, Dooku smiles indulgently at the boy.

“Brat.” He says with no malice, Garen grins happily.

“So how did the weird language go?” Depa asks in an attempt to change the subject, Dooku pouts, Arl rolls her eyes.

“You are honestly a child.” She tells him, he whines.

“But you are making me wait weeks possibly months to translate such a beautiful text!” He complains.

“Oh stop exaggerating, it’s a few days, possibly a week or two.  Tell you what, finish the investigation quickly and you can translate to your little hearts content.” Dooku huffs and takes a seat between Qui-Gon and Xanatos.  Arl chuckles at him, “It appears to be some odd mix of The Ancient Language and Old Sith.  It’s definitely about body possession but it will take a while to fully translate.  Tahl is going to work on it while we are gone but there will likely be little process until we return.”  She explains.

“But if you know both languages, can’t you just smush them together and read it?” Garen asks looking confused, this was really not his strong point.

“Is smush the technical term?” Obi asks earning a bread roll thrown at him.

“Padawan, do not start a food war again or you will be cleaning this entire apartment top to bottom with a tooth brush.” Mace tells him, everyone besides Mic, Arlie, Shmi, and Ani look slightly worried between Micah and Mace at the words.  The two worked closely with each other’s students but such a reprimand was another level usually frowned upon by other Masters.  Micah just looks unimpressed at his Padawan who ducks his head under the disapproving look from both Masters.

“Sorry Masters.” Garen says chastised, Arlie hides her laugh with a cough, badly.

“No, we can’t do that.  It mixes the words together but there are also others we do not know at all.” Arlie tells him.

“That and words change meaning over time or could mean two things.  It can be a complicated process, we are lucky to have a good grounding in the two other languages or it could take months or even years to get a fluent understanding of the base language.  It still might but luckily we do not need fluency to translate the document.” Dooku adds, Garen and Obi look thoughtful.

“Well languages sound boring to learn.  Especially old ones.” Obi says, Arl chokes on her food as Qui-Gon admonishes his Padawan.  Arlie just laughs, hard, as she thinks of the wizard at languages he became in the other timeline and wonders if he will again.  Garen seems to agree with Obi-Wan’s statement but wisely does not say so.

“Obi, Garen, would you be willing to let me teach you another language?  Guaranteed fluency in three months for Obi-Wan, gods know with Garen but I promise it’ll be interesting?” Arl says, both boys exchange looks and look uneasy.

“Which language?” Garen asks cautiously, the others look interested in what she might say.

“I was thinking one of the native languages of Naboo?  Whether Nubian or Gungan it would be your choice.  Or another language, I know many.  Or I could teach you a language no one else in the order will know but you’ll have little basis for it.” Arlie offers, Obi-s eyes light up momentarily.

“You could teach me Nubian?” Obi-Wan asks feigning a lack of interest, Garen has caught his hidden enthusiasm and rolls his eyes before looking to Arlie.

“Oh! I really want to learn Nubian, can we Arls?” Garen asks faking excitement knowing his friend won’t make the request he clearly wants to, Arl smiles glad he caught on.

“Yeah, soon as I get back and we’ve translated the text.  Oh, speaking of teaching people things, some of the younglings from the creche asked if I could teach them how to spar.  I said I would ask and that should their Teaching Masters be all right with it I’d be happy to, seeing as we are working closely now, would that bother you?” Arl asks Dooku who smiles at her, Mace and Micah exchange looks, happy that she’s working well with Dooku.  Arl could, on occasion, be not so great at the whole ‘team player’ thing.

“Not at all, however I would be interested in sitting in on those lessons, if you would not mind that is?” Dooku asks, Arl smiles blindingly.

“That would be awesome!” Arl says excitedly, no one is quite sure what landmine Dooku just hit but it seemed to be a good one.

“If you are interested in teaching Arlie, I believe some of the Masters directly in the whole Sith situation could benefit from your instruction.  I fear the Sith’s abilities may be beyond ours.” Depa suggests, Mace and Micah nod in agreement as does Qui-Gon.

“And the Padawans involved.” Qui adds looking between Garen, Obi, and Xanatos the latter of which shakes his head.

“Not me, bad idea.  The last thing we need is me holding my own in a fight against Arl let alone beating the pants off the average Jedi.” Xanatos says, Anakin looks confused.

“Why?” He asks, Xanatos falters slightly.

“My apologies, my son is not the greatest at reading the room.” Shmi says immediately ducking her head.  Somewhere, Garen thinks he recognises the action.

“No, it is fine really, a valid question.  Jedi should always question things.” Xanatos says uncomfortably but smiles reassuringly at both mother and child.

“You do make a good point though.  Shielding you should get instruction on from Arlie.” Micah suggests.

“Something again that Masters involved with Sith should learn.” Depa adds then looks thoughtful, “Actually all should.  Okay I will sort out a plan but if you are willing Master Aa, you could teach the shielding to the core group that needs it desperately, preferably you do one on one with Xanatos for obvious reasons but general instruction for the rest of us.  From there those Masters can be put on a teaching rotation to teach others.” Arlie nods.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“Any other wisdom you feel the need to pass on?” Garen asks, Arlie nods.

“Yes actually, I would like to try and teach a hand full of healers to heal using force-magic.  I realise that a few on the council may have an issue with others in the order using that but it would only be healing and only because it works a lot better than your standard force-enhanced healing.” Arlie says.

“We can bring it up with the council but ultimately the decision on that will be the entire councils prerogative.” Mace tells her, she nods.

“I do not know much about the situation but, there are those in slavery who are force-sensitive as Anakin is.  I know some who have come across odd contraptions that they say blocks their abilities.  If such a thing exists, perhaps your fellow Jedi should all learn the basics of healing without the force as well should they ever find themselves in such a situation.” Shmi suggests looking apprehensive at suggesting it.

“That is actually a brilliant idea, force-inhibitors are a bitch.” Arl says a sentiment a few others agree on.

“Hold on, 1, how do you know that and 2, how did slavers get force inhibitors?” Mace asks looking severely bothered by both.

“An old owner of mine somehow got his hands on one.  I never found out how, he went missing.” Arlie tells them, they all exchange looks.

“When you say went missing…” Micah hesitantly asks, Arl looks conflicted.

“Well, he had a hand on my wrist and a blaster pointed at a friend of mine, I transported him elsewhere and…I actually do not remember what happened next but he never turned up again.” Arlie tells them with a pointed look to her Masters that they should ask her about what really happened later.

“When exactly did this happen?” Mace asks looking to be getting a headache, Arl hesitates, Mace freezes realising his mistake.  “I just mean, which owner did you have at the time?  We should make sure there are no others with the people he worked around or any associates.” Arl glanced worriedly at her mother.

“Um, well he owns a freighter so there are a lot of associates.  I do not know a name.” Arlie says clinically as her mother’s breath catches momentarily.  “He may not have them yet.  I mean anymore but like he may get them again but for now he may not have them yet.” Arlie stutters dumbly.

“We can deal with this later, for now Shmi’s suggestion is a good one however, our healers are not well versed in non-force healing.” Micah tells them, Arl perks up.

“Mum is though, she was bought and given medical training so that she could be sold as a healer to remote areas.  Good money in that area for slavers.” Arl says the last part offhandedly earning a reprimanding look from both her former Masters, her sister-padawan, and her mother. “Sorry.” She says.

“The point stands though, the previous one that is.” Dooku says, Mace nods.

“Would you be willing to instruct a few of us?  We would compensate you of course.” Mace requests Shmi who looks delighted at not sitting around idly.

“It would be my pleasure Master Jedi.” She says, Mace gives her an unimpressed look that makes Shmi smile sheepishly, “Mace.” She corrects.  Arlie thinks they must have had this discussion while she was in the library. “So, Arlie, where are you going?  A trip of yours has been mentioned a few times.”

“Yes, Master Dooku and I are going to investigate some bombings.” Arlie tells her mother.

“When was this decided, I mean we talked about you guys going back but I was not aware you were officially being sent?” Xanatos says having not heard about this before.

“While you were…not feeling like yourself.” Arl says lamely, Xan ducks his head awkwardly.

“Anyway, the investigation is half over so we should not be long.” Dooku tells both Xanatos and Shmi. “However, Knight Vos will be with her so should I need to, I can be back in a few hours.” Xan smiles at his Master.

“Investigations, ancient texts, teaching several different things.  You seem to be on high demand sweetheart.” Shmi says smiling at her, face filled with pride.

“I just try to help out however I can.” Arlie replies with a smile she uses to placate politicians and press when forced to.

“That and you are just about the most useful person in this order.” Garen says, Arl glares at him.

“Now that is just simply not true.”

“Name one person more useful.”

“Jale Terza.”

“…Name two.”

“Jey-Sahl Penn.”

“…”

“Both of you stop.  I swear to gods you are both acting like children, now we have guests, behave.” Mace tells them both in the voice they know means they are embarrassing him in front of important people.

“Sorry Master.” They both reply chastised.

“What do you do when you aren’t workin?” Ani asks curiously.

“Well, Padawans have classes as well as the training their Master sets, but otherwise just spending time relaxing or with friends.” Obi-Wan tells the little boy.

“Padawans relaxing when not working, now that’s something Mace never learnt.” Qui-Gon says with an amused look directed to the beforementioned Jedi Master, Mace ducks his head.

“What do you mean?” Depa asks interestedly.

“Well when your former Master was a Padawan, I was a young Knight.” Qui begins.

“Wow that was a long time ago.” Xanatos says before his eyes widen and he slaps a hand over his mouth now blushing, Dooku chuckles.

“I think I should be more offended than you Qui-Gon.” Dooku says with a smile, Qui is just smiling like he doesn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused. “Master Windu did not like being idle.” He adds retuning to the topic at hand.

“Oh my gods, I completely forgot about that.  When he was a teenager, about fifteen I think, Yoda was just about pulling out hair he doesn’t have trying to wrangle him.” Micah says thinking back.

“You know I forget sometimes that you aren’t all the same age.  Winni is what, like a couple of decades younger than you and Qui?” Arlie asks smiling, Mic nods.

“Twenty years yes.” Qui-Gon tells her.

“That would have been the year of the great prank war wouldn’t it?” Dooku questions, Mic nods.

“Right which was a year or two after the water fight in the palace on Mandalore.” Qui-Gon adds.

“And a year before the food war in the mess which was within a week I think, or maybe it was a month, of the paint war in the senate dome.” Micah comments, Arlie, Garen and Depa look with wide and in Garen’s case impressed, in Depa’s scandalized eyes.

“Master?” All three ask at the exact same time, Mace stays quite for a moment before blurting out…

“Adi started the food fight!” All Padawans present piss themselves laughing just as said Master enters the room, seeing her being what reminded Mace of that.

“What? The one in the mess when we were…sixteenish?” Adi asks they nod, “Yeah that was me.” She says with a proud smile.

“Oh yeah, _now_ you admit it.” Mace complains emphasising the now.

“Sorry I am so late, there was a fire in the hanger bay and my ship could not land.” Adi says having been invited to the dinner.

“That’s all right, no one has really gotten around to eating yet.” Micah says prompting everyone to realise their full plates are still in front of them, except Anakin and Garen, they ate it all quickly and have both been picking food off of Arlie since she was sat between them.

“Okay, Prank war, water fight, food fight, paint war, stories?” Arlie requests as she fends off her brother-padawan from stealing her vegetables since he already took the meat. “You know you could just get seconds.” Arlie tells Garen already refilling Anakin’s plate.  The little boy looked around the table shocked at having a second plate of food.  “It’s all right Ani, we have plenty more.” She reassures him cursing herself for forgetting he only left Tatooine a few days ago and spent all but a few hours of that on a tiny ship.  Anakin got a nod from his mother before saying thank you and smiling wide as he began devouring that plate as well.

“But it is so much more fun to annoy you.” Garen whinges, Arlie pokes him with her knife, he blocks it with his own and then a knife/sword fight ensued.  Xanatos, who was next to Garen, grabbed his fork and used the prongs to trap both blades.

“Not at the table.” He tells them, they retract their knives and go back to eating, Garen happily returning to his plate and thanking Mic who had refilled it from across the table when he wasn’t looking. “So, stories.” He says with a mischievous look that no one had seen since before he fell.

“Oh he was so embarrassing to have been affiliated with.” Adi tells them, Mace glares at her.

“You were right there along with me.”

“Because you dragged me!  Remember before the senate dome when I said, we shouldn’t do this Mace and you said, it’ll be fine, we won’t get caught.  Then I said, how do you even know how to make paint guns and you said you and your brother have paint wars every time you visit and I said well bring him then I don’t want to, to which you picked me up and carried me in?” Adi reminds him, he smiles and chuckles.

“Oh yeah.” He says, Arlie squeal laughs in a way only Dooku has heard in this timeline.

“Ugh not the squealing again.” He complained but she had lost it and sounded like a squirrel who was watching bloopers of clown school.

“She used to do this at the littlest of things when she was little.” Shmi reveals as they all watch the usually stoic or annoyed Jedi knight squeak laughing and rocking in her chair while struggling to breath and going red in the face.

“So while that happens, did you get caught?” Obi asks curiously.

“Of course we did we drowned a bunch of senators in paint, had to clean the entire senate dome on our own.  Secretly though I think both our Masters thought it hilarious though they would never admit it and were rightfully furious.  I think the part they thought was funny wasn’t so much us dropping paint from the ceiling as it was having left balloons of paint and paint guns in the circles so the senators themselves started firing on each other.” Mace says with a chuckle, Arl, who had just calmed down, held her breath to keep from laughing again, it did not work.

“And she’s off again.” Garen says smiling wide.

“What happened with the water fight?” Xanatos asks smiling just as much.

“Ah, well, Master Yoda was under the impression that I was a tad insubordinate at times but a well behaved Padawan none the less and sent me with the newly knighted Qui-Gon, just a routine catch up to ensure relations between Mandalore and the Republic were to their satisfaction as was done in those days.” Mace begins to say.

“We are not supposed to talk about what happened but as it turns out, water on Mandalore has some kind of contaminate that is not harmful to anyone who is not expressly allergic to it in which case their water must be filtered.  The Duchess of Mandalore at the time, was allergic.” Qui tells them, Mace smiles sheepishly. “I wish I could say Mace didn’t know that.” He adds, everyone looks shocked at Mace.

“It wasn’t my fault! You said sometimes people lie about stuff in politics, I thought it was weird that the ruler would be allergic to water, why would you stay there? So I wanted to check.  Turns out, not lying.  Also, nearly killing the Duchess is enough to get yourself a life time banishment from the planet.” Mace tells them all looking like he deeply regrets the last part. 

“On the bright side, due to his stellar recovering of those events, Qui-Gon is well respected on the planet.” Dooku adds having been told by Qui-Gon a long time ago.

“Well, this has been fun but I should get the little one to bed.” Shmi says after a few moments of impressed silence follows Dooku’s statement.  Anakin had fallen asleep against Arlie who was cradling her little brother.

The whole dinner broke up soon after, Depa promising to work out some kind of scheduling for lessons on things and also that Arlie could still teach the younglings from the creche to spar.

Arlie lays in bed that night, Garen snoring on the cot now set up in her room beside her bed, and she smiles as she begins to fall asleep. Then she frowns, then groans and gets up, heading down to the library to begin translating the ancient text.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Arlie.” She hears as she wakes up along with the sensation of someone shaking her shoulder, she reacts grabbing the offending hand and twisting it around their back pushing them into the table she has previously been asleep on. “Arl, calm down, it’s just me.” A man’s voice says, she realises she’s pinning Dooku against the table and hurting his arm, she releases him.

“Sorry Doo.” She says cringing.

“Do not worry about it, I shall remember to never wake you by shaking you.” Dooku tells her, she smiles.

“To be honest it had less to do with you shaking me and more to do with it being your voice doing the waking.” Arlie says sheepishly, Dooku smiles sadly but understandingly.  He knew she had no problem with him now, Sith or no Sith, but he had been evil in the other timeline and she still lived with the memories of that, even if he wasn’t really him.

“Knight Vos is waiting with the ship.  He has been briefed with all the necessary information, you weren’t waiting when we got there and weren’t in your quarters, I figured you must have been a hypocrite and come down here.” He says with a smile, she laughs as they start walking out of the library.

“It was bugging me!” She complains. “I’ve left notes for Tahl that should help but I only managed three more words after hours.  Translating that is going to take a while, I’m not even fully certain on those three words, well two of them I am, I am not sure if the word between them is had, have or has.  Has makes grammatical sense in Basic but it reads as had.  If it is had then we have the problem of basic grammatical rules or tenses being extremely different as well.  Ancient Jedi follows the same rules Basic does but Old Sith makes its own and this seems different again.” Arl tells him, he nods along.

“Perhaps if we find some text in both languages from different periods of time, we can find the progressive change in the grammar and work backwards?” Dooku suggests, Arl nods.

“It’s in the notes along with some suggested texts to use, this is one of the ways your previous research is coming in handy.”

“I spoke with Tahl on my way to the hanger bay, she said that she’s going to be working on this while having her Padawan and Mace looking down other avenues of the afterlife and such.”

“Bant’s a good researcher, this will be good practice for her.”

“Unfortunately, this is not a situation in which we can have stupid mistakes so I have asked Mace to monitor her closely to a degree while conducting his own research.”

“Give her the chance to make a mistake on her own but have him close enough to fix it before it becomes a problem.  Smart.”

“Okay no, if we are doing this, you guys are gonna have to be less boring.” Quinlan says as they enter the ship, Arl rolls her eyes.

“The oldest record we have found of our Ancestral Language is boring to you?” Arlie asks dryly, he nods.

“Yes.”

“Let’s just get going.”

“Yes, Telos IV Part Two: Return Of the Jedi.” Vos says earning incredulous looks from both other Jedi present. “What? All interesting missions need names.” Arl and Dooku simultaneously roll their eyes, “You two spend way too much time together, anyway, next stop, Telos IV.”

An hour into the flight Dooku’s comm chimes.

“Master Tahl, to what do I owe the pleasure?” He asks as he answers.

“I am afraid that even beginning this translation will take me months.  I am not fluent in Old Sith so I cannot work backwards, I can have a partial back ground but for the most part I’m starting from scratch.  I’ll do so but I doubt there will be much progress.” The Jedi master replies, Dooku nods though she can’t see him.

“There are other people in the temple that speak Old Sith.” Arlie points out, Dooku nods again.

“Yes, but they are probably too busy.  Yoda does, Qui-Gon does, and Jocasta does.  You can try your luck with asking those three but it may be better to simply wait for us.” Dooku says though he knows she will not.

“I shall make some enquiries.” Tahl says before ending the call.

“That didn’t sound good.” Vos says.

“That is because it wasn’t.” Arlie replies.

 

A few hours later they arrived on Telos IV and were greeted by happy but confused officials, Arlie had her Master persona firmly in place as they exited the ship.

“Padawan Aa, Master Dooku, a pleasure to see you again.” The Secretary for Telos IV’s current emperor says holding out his middle and index fingers on his left hand, Dooku does the same and touches his fingers to the secretaries, they both bow.  The standard greeting is repeated by Arl.

“It is actually Knight Aa now, and this is Knight Quinlan Vos.” Arlie introduces, he mimics the greeting the other two gave.

“A pleasure to meet you, we humbly welcome you to our planet.  Congratulations Knight Aa, I understand most do not obtain such a rank until adulthood.” Arl nods in thanks, “You are, of course, always welcome here, but I have to say I was rather surprised to hear you would be returning, I thought your investigation completed with the apprehension of Xanatos Du Crion.”

“As did we.  However, we have reason to believe that he may not have been working alone.” Dooku tells him.

“Well, then on behalf of Telos IV, I thank you for returning and continuing to offer your aid.”  The conversation moves to the transport which takes them directly to the factory in which they found Xanatos just over a week ago, it was hard to believe it was so recently.

“We merely apologise for not having solved this the first time.  How is rebuilding?” Arl asks politely.

“Slowly but surely the areas are being cleared of debris, then the buildings will be fixed.  It is not yet decided if they will be built in the same fashion or if we use this as an opportunity to update our public spaces.  Some feel taking advantage of the situation is disrespecting the dead, others feel it is honouring their sacrifice.”

“How do you feel about it?” Vos asks, Arl arches an eyebrow at the question but nods to the official who seemed put off by the question.

“I feel that these people did not make a sacrifice to help us, their lives were ripped away and we should not dress that up to feel better about it.  But as horrible as it is, it happened, we cannot change it, letting an opportunity to update old buildings go to waste because of a few deaths we cannot undo is ridiculous.” Arl nods.

“Practical thinking, I respect that.” Vos tells her with a smile, she seems rather relieved.

When they enter the factory Arlie almost requests to search the lower levels so as to avoid the catwalks above before deciding it ridiculous.

“All right, Vos, search the ground level, Dooku, the catwalks, I will go above.” Arlie dictates, they nod and head in the correct directions.  Arl searches for the position Xanatos jumped to attack Dooku from but found nothing there.  Following a hunch, she heads to the places she thinks would be the best vantage point to watch both that position and the position the fight took place.  There were three realistic places that fit the description and one slightly less realistic, she headed to the unrealistic one first.

This happened to be some rafters on the roof, she had to force jump up to a beam she could grab on the wall first before making the leap to the rafter, she searched around until she found a spot that would enable her to watch the fight and stay out of view.  Looking around she sees a small scuff mark on the beam below her, she runs her fingers across it and sighs frustratedly.

(This could have come from anything.  It could have been here since the place was built, or maybe I made it though I don’t think I did.  How do I tell?) she thinks, (And what would it even tell me if I could…) then it hits her, (Psychometry.) “Knight Vos.” Arl calls loudly.

“Yes, Master Aa?” He calls back sassily, she rolls her eyes thankful he couldn’t see her, she re-centres herself before leaning over the beam to see him. 

“I need your specific talents up here.” She replies, he smirks, she raises an eyebrow, he clears his throat and goes to head up.

“You know I had a great joke and if you were a few years older it would have been perfect.” He says to her as he heads over to the scuff mark she points to.

“Charming.” She replies dryly.

“A Zabrak, black and red, wearing all black.” Quinlan says before wincing sharply and pulling his hand away as though burned.

“What is it?” She asks concerned, he looks at her with terror in his eyes.

“Death.” He says before promptly passing out over the edge of the beam they were on, she bites back the panic before it even emerges and calmly catches him with the force, lowering him slowly onto the catwalk where Dooku is now waiting.  She then jumps down to meet him.

“What happened?” He asks kneeling beside Quinlan.

“I’ve honestly no idea, but Darth Maul was here.  Last time I mean, he was watching the whole thing from up there.” Arlie tells him, “I should have known.” She mutters bending down to heal any damage to her partner, unfortunately there is none, she frowns before pushing a small amount of energy into him, sure enough he wakes.

“Was gon on?” Vos slurs, Dooku and Arlie exchange worried glances.

“There is no damage to him, take him back to the ship.  I will go to the hospital and see if any of the injured saw Maul around the place then meet you there.  Make sure he gets some rest, we shall get out answers after.” Arlie tells Dooku who nods, Quinlan looks between them confused like his brain can’t quite keep up with what is happening.

“I am going to take you back to the ship all right?” Dooku explains to Quinlan slowly.

“Kay.” Quin replies spacily, he was clearly struggling to process things around him, it was a very drugged outlook, much like if he were under the influence of very strong pain medication except it appeared to be stressing his mind a lot more than that would have.

An hour later Arlie finds herself standing before a small committee of government officials that have been given the task of overseeing the investigation.

“We believe we have identified the culprit to be a Zabrak by the name of Maul.  He is already wanted by the Jedi.  When I return, I will be informing the council of the need to devote more resources into finding him.” Arlie tells them, a few seem appeased by her words but the others do not.

“And what are we to do in the mean time? What if he attacks again?  No, you should send Jedi here to protect us, that is your job.”

“With all due respect, it is not.  Our job as peace keepers of the galaxy is to end conflict not protect those injured by it.  Maul could attack any planet, we cannot send Jedi to guard all of them without stopping our search for him all together.  If you wish to be safe then instead of dividing our resources to pointlessly watching you when he is very unlikely to attack here again, we can make finding him a priority so that he will not hurt _anyone_ again.” Arl replies coolly, she was the picture of serenity but she did not have time for their bullshit.

“To be perfectly candid, my priority is not the rest of the galaxy, it is my planet, and it is my planet that has been attacked already.”

“Yes well, to be perfectly candid, this planet is not _my_ priority, apprehending Maul is.  While you waste my time with an argument you have already lost, Maul is out there, possibly harming innocent people, all because you seem to believe yourself more important than the rest of the galaxy.  Now three of my own have been injured in this investigation that the Jedi only took as a favour to your people.  It is not our usual forte.  Be grateful we came at all, so if you do not mind, I am going to go and capture the man who did this, feel free to continue arguing after I am gone though, it will be just as productive.” She says coldly before leaving the room, her aura of serenity never faltering even as she scolds them.

 

By the time she arrives at the ship, Quinlan is unsurprisingly asleep and Dooku is seated in the pilot’s chair quietly contemplating something.

“Ah here she is.” He says, Arl is confused until she notices the comm activated, he mouths ‘council’ to her.

“Masters.” She says seating herself in the co-pilot’s chair.

“Good timing, we were just looking for an update on the investigation, you believe Maul to be involved?” Master Gallia questions, Arlie thinks it is rather stupid, she obviously already knows Arl believes so or she would not have known to ask the question.

“Yes Master Gallia, in fact I am certain of it now.  A few of the injured remember seeing a black and red Zabrak dressed all in black around the place, one of them reported him glancing about suspiciously.  He met her eyes briefly, she said they were a frighteningly fluorescent yellow.  Apparently, the glimpse of eye contact frightened her more than the whole experience with the bomb did.  She was unconscious the last time we were around asking questions which is why we did not hear of this before.”  Arlie tells them, Dooku seems displeased, more so than usual.

“Good news this is not.” Yoda says unhappily.

“Actually Master, I believe it is, not only does this clear Xanatos of bombing his home planet, it also gives us a starting point with which to track Maul’s movements and hopefully lead us back to Darth Wrath.” Dooku replies perking up a bit.

“Why do I feel like I have the worst hang over of my life?” Quinlan groans from the back of the small ship, he then rushes to the ‘fresher before vomiting.  Arl hopes he made it to the toilet before doing that, she doubts Dooku would clean it if he didn’t and she is not leaving that there until it can be properly cleaned on Coruscant.

“Well he seems to be in a cheery mood.” Micah says prompting an un-Jedi-like giggle that could only have been from Garen, Arlie smiles softly at the noise.

“Rock Paper Scissors on who goes to check on him?” Arlie offers to Dooku who looks confused.

“Rock Paper Scissors?” Dooku asks, Arlie gives him a calculating look, to him, it is the most heartbroken look of calculation he has ever witnessed though he is certain she is unaware of it.

“I have no clue what the core equivalent to that would be, or even if there is one.  I will teach you how to play at some point when we have a free moment.”  Arlie tells him eventually.

“Because that happens so often.” Dooku replies, Arl rolls her eyes.

“I could practically feel the eye roll form here.” Mic says, Arl swallows the laughter as she looks at Dooku.

“You remind me of my older brother sometimes.” She says thoughtfully before walking to check on Quinlan.

“We will be returning to Coruscant soon, you should expect us tomorrow morning, we will give you a full briefing then.” Dooku tells them.

“A meeting for which I am most enthused.” Master Mundi says obviously curious about the whole thing, both ends disconnect the comm, Dooku sets a course for Coruscant before walking to the ‘fresher and standing just outside the doorway in order to not crowd Vos.

“How are you feeling?” He asks earning him a rather irritated look from the young Knight hunched over the toilet, an action said Knight regrets rather quickly as he vomits once again.  Arlie kneels beside him holding his hair and rubbing circles into him back.  She was rather glad to be so young and tiny in this moment, full grown she wasn’t overly tall be she still doesn’t think she’d have fit in the tiny ‘fresher with him.

Eventually Quinlan’s stomach settled enough for him to go back to the bunk he had been on before to lay down again.  There was only one bunk on the ship but seeing as they would be back home in a few hours it hardly mattered. (I never considered Coruscant home before, my Master’s living quarters sure, but never the planet itself.)

“What the Sith happened?” Vos asks, Arlie senses more than sees Dooku’s flinch at his choice of swears.

“That’s just racist.” Arl says earning an incredulous look from both men, Dooku’s also looks alarmed. “Well it’s like saying ‘What the Tatooinian just happened.’ Or ‘What the Jedi just happened.’ It’s rude.”

“Somehow I doubt the Sith would care.” Quin says straightening his head again and laying an arm over his eyes before apparently deciding that was worse and quickly removing it and opening his eyes once more.

“Sith are people to, plus they have strong emotions, so it is more than likely they would be offended.”

“Sith have strong emotions?” Vos asks confused.

“That’s how you use what we understand as the ‘Dark Side of the Force’ you access it through feelings.  Not just negative ones either but any.  Stronger emotions mean stronger power and since Anger is such a strong emotion, or true rage, hatred as well, they are common amongst power hungry Sith.  True blissful happiness or unconditional love would likely have the same effect but to be perfectly honest, it is a lot easier to hate than it is to love.” Arlie explains, Dooku looks oddly touched and excuses himself before moving to the cockpit and shutting the door.

“Tell me this again later, coz I am interested but I cannot keep up with what youse are saying right now.” Quinlan says incorrectly, Arl smiles softly at him.

“Sure thing, now in answer to your earlier question, we do not know what happened, we were hoping you would.  What is the last thing you remember?”

“We were walking into the factory, you told me to search the ground level and, that’s it.  Nothing until I woke up here with a splitting headache and the room spinning.”  Arl frowns but notices him blinking slowly.

“Get some sleep, we will talk more when you are feeling better.” She tells him before heading into the cockpit and shutting the door behind her, she and Dooku sit in silence as she thinks about what Vos said and what happened, attempting to ascertain the cause as she waits for Dooku to break the silence.

“You did not have to do that you know, stand up for the Sith I mean.” He says at last.

“Believing that a specific characteristic is shared by all beings of a race is the definition of racist.  I suppose technically a religious sect is not necessarily a race of people but it still fits the description well enough.  In any case, I dislike bigoted discrimination.  Not all Sith are evil, the way you control your use of the force when so many others would be controlled by it, it is awe inspiring.  You are a credit to your people and I shan’t allow someone to dismiss such strength on account of the actions a few individuals made.”

“What you said before, about channeling emotion, you were speaking from experience weren’t you?” Dooku asks, Arl nods, “How?”

“I fell.  I did not realise what I was doing at the time, I did not care for the power, so long as I could destroy Vader I cared for none of it.  Nothing mattered except killing him.  Then I was brought back here and that hatred and rage had nowhere to go.  Eventually it began spilling over until my family helped me, it was not until my first conversation with Wrath that I truly…unfell?  There has to be a better word for that.”

“Raised?”

“Yeah that works, until I raised myself back up to the Jedi way.”

“Who is Vader?” He asks after a beat of silence, Arl sighs dejectedly.

“One of my brothers.”

“I am assuming he is the one you mentioned that you watched become a Sith?”

“A Dark Sith yes, I’ve started differentiating between the two so that people will learn there is a difference.  It’s my new cause, I needed a project to work on that was a little less death and destruction and more hope and compassion.”  Dooku scares the crap out of Arlie and, honest to force, leans over to hug her.  She smiles and laughs happily as she hugs him in return.

“I do have to ask, why was he called Darth Vader?  Generally, there are reasons behind the name pertaining to the individual, but ‘Dark Father’ seems a little generic to me.”

“He and his Master believed he had murdered his two unborn children along with his wife.” Dooku’s eyes widen slightly.

“What is it with them and mistreating their children?”

“I’ve no idea, I could never harm my children.  I mean I have none and probably never will but that is hardly the point.”

“I know what you mean, my father was not the nicest man and although I was raised in the Jedi temple, my brother was not.  Watching it all unfold from a distance was maddening.” Arl looks thoughtful as she realises this must be the reason he tried to kill Sidious when he ‘grievously mistreated’ his son.  She still isn’t sure what Anarch meant by ‘grievously mistreated’, then Arl realises something else.

“Your father, he was your sacrifice, wasn’t he?” She asks knowing Sidious would have demanded he make one.

“Yes, he was.” Dooku pulls away and watches her warily, she smiles reassuringly.

“I knew you had to have made one Doo, if it were going to drive me to rat you out I’d have done it already.” He smiles sheepishly. “Darth Anarch told me that Maul saved Sidious after Plagueis tried to kill him.  Adding on you and your apprentice that makes five Sith, what happened to the rule of two?”

“None of us fancied dying and we’re all too good at avoiding it.  I never impressed the need of it onto my Apprentice, he did not seem overly interested in gaining an Apprentice of his own, and even if he does one day, it just means a dying race survives.  There used to be as many Sith as Jedi, I do not know when this changed but the rule of two was killing us.  I disregarded it as I did with quite a bit of my former Master’s teachings, the others were just vain and stubborn and far too good at surviving assassination attempts.” Arl snickers slightly at the last part, he chuckles too before the pair fall silent for a while.

 

“Why did Maul bomb Telos IV?” Vos asks a few hours later as he sits in the cockpit with them after being caught up on what he has forgotten.

“You look like death warmed up.” Arl tells him, he looks confused.

“Her home planet has weird sayings, guess from context as best you can and move on.” Dooku says as checks how far out from Coruscant they are.  “Two hours.” He tells Arl at her questioning look.

“One would assume it was to attract our attention in order to get Xanatos to engage us, perhaps his Jedi Master was to be his sacrifice to become a Sith.  A way of truly denouncing the Jedi order.” Arl suggests while thinking it was also a way for Wrath to get rid of his old apprentice.

“I did not take you as one to work on assumptions Master Aa.” Dooku tells her, she glares at him.

“I am not, however given the information at hand it makes sense, excessive but effective.”

“It just does not sit right with me.” Vos tells her sounding unsettled, she nods.

“All right, then that is not what happened, or at least, not all that happened.  So, what else may have been behind it?” Arl asks, Vos is shocked that she automatically trusts his gut so completely but Dooku seems prepared to run with it so Quinlan decides to as well.

“Every time we leave there is some new piece of the puzzle that seems to draw us back.” Dooku complains, Arl ponders this intently for a moment, the two men exchange a glance before deciding to leave her be for a moment to think.

“It seems odd that both times we have gotten to that factory, we’ve been drawn away again.  I do not think whoever has done whatever it is they did is trying to bring us there, I think they are trying to get us away.” She suggests forcing impassivity.

“That is not a comforting thought.”

“We need to go back.” Vos says, “This time, without alerting anyone.”

“I do not believe we would be officially welcome again anyway.” Arl adds earning two confused looks, “I do not appreciate arrogance that knows no bounds, not even the thought that an entire galaxy could be more important than one measly little planet.” Arl mutters in her defence, Vos lets out a breath.

“Okay then, Telos IV Part 3: Incognito.” Vos says, Arl and Dooku both smile at that before Arl laughs, Vos does too and Dooku chuckles all three smiling widely.

“I am afraid I cannot help but ask, what was part one called?” Dooku says still chuckling. Vos thinks for a moment before grinning.

“Telos IV Part 1: Crumbling Hope.”

“That’s terrible.” Arlie declares, Vos nods grinning wildly.

“That’s what makes it perfect.”

“Certainly accurate.” Dooku says, “Because it went terribly.”

“Way to kill a conversation Doo.”

“Yeah Doo.” Vos says like a child making Arlie begin uncontrollably laughing as Dooku turns the ship back to Telos IV.

 

A few hours later they arrive and land right behind the factory, glad, for the first time, it was quite a distance from everything else.  The three disembark and begin looking around, none sure what they are looking for.

“You three just cannot leave well enough alone, can you?” A sarcastic voice drawls, his words dripping with menace and promises of suffering.  The three look to see Maul standing before them, Arl feels an old grief hit her as she thinks of this man cutting down Qui-Gon, she fights back the anger, never wavering in her calm projected aura.

“Darth Maul.” Arlie says, Vos looks at him strangely, he knows he has seen him before, Arlie told him.  He can also feel a memory there but cannot see it, it was a very disconcerting sensation.

Arlie coughs as her lungs fill with smoke, her eyes stinging from it and the pain, oh gods the pain.  Her arms hurt so much from the fire but she had to keep going, keep pulling, she had to get Dooku out of here.  She blinks and looks around, (What is happening?) she thinks, she turns and sees Vos lowering the ramp of the ship and running to get the engines started, she pulls harder, faster, knowing she had to get there.  After a few minutes Vos comes out and helps her pull him into the ship before he immediately goes to take off.  Arl lays Dooku flat on the ground and takes stock of damages, he was missing his left leg from the knee down but it looked like the fire had cauterized the wound, (No not fire, that’s a lightsaber burn.) she realises having seen many during the war.  There are extensive burns on his torso as well, Arlie takes his shirt off relieved to see that while they cover a large area, none are particularly deep.  What worries her more is the cuts, stabs wounds, electrical burns, bruises, and broken ribs.  Dooku had been tortured, she of all people could recognise that on sight.

Vos walks out and sits against the wall next to her obviously out of breath.  All three of them were filthy, dirt, blood, and soot covered every inch of them.

“What the hell happened?” Arlie asks, Vos tries to shrug but winces.

“I think I’ve, *cough* dislocated *cough* my shoulder.” He whispers, Arlie can see the bruises around his neck.

“Someone tried very hard to choke you, that along with the smoke inhalation is why you are struggling to speak.” She tells him before coughing herself, he reached up to his neck looking confused.

“What happened after we saw *cough* Maul.” He wheezes, she looks at him with wide eyes, tears filling them and this time not form smoke.

“I don’t know, was that whole factory on fire?” Vos nods, “Check over yourself, Dooku was tortured.” They both begin to, it is only then Arlie sees why her arms hurt so fucking badly, from about mid upper arm all the way down her fingers were terrible burns, she thinks the adrenaline is the only reason she is not in absolute agony though she can already feel that crashing.  There are cuts all over her torso and she thinks she may have broken a few ribs as well.

“Three broken ribs, lots of bruising.” Vos says before coughing again, “God knows what to my *Cough* throat.  Dislocated shoulder and I think there are burns down my back and on my face.” Arl looks at his face trying to see past the dirt.

“I think so, dirt, soot, old blood, new blood, it’s all so mixed I cannot really tell.”

“Well your face is quite colourful too, I think you may have broken a cheekbone.”

“Yes I do believe so, I can’t tell because of the excessive pain on my arms anyway but I think I may have dislocated my wrist.  Also broken ribs, many shallow cuts and general bruising.  I think there are cuts on my face too but I can’t really bend my arms anymore.”  Vos moves to the fresher and grabs the first aid kit, burn kit, the few towels that were on board, and uses the empty container of the first aid kit to get warm water, he tipped the original contents out in front of her.  They do their best to clean each other off with the towel while avoiding the burns and do the same to Dooku.

“Aren’t you supposed to be an amazing healer or something?” Vos wheezes.

“My use of the force relies heavily on hand movement Quin.” Arl replies shortly, he holds his hands up in surrender before wincing.

“I think I may have more than dislocated my shoulder.” He says through the pain.  He has now discovered if he speaks softly enough and slowly enough, he doesn’t cough mid-sentence.  Vos looks through the burn kit and does what he can to help Arlie’s arms and neck.  He cannot reach his back and she can’t help him do it so he just has to hope he doesn’t get an infection.  He does what he can for Dooku’s but his are minor burns so he uses most of the kit on Arlie.  He does what he can to prevent infection of Dooku’s half leg and cleans the deep cuts he finds on Dooku’s right leg.  Finally, after well over two hours of attending to their wounds he just slumps against the wall across from Arlie, Dooku laying in between them, and so they sit, in silence. 

 

Some indeterminant amount of time later, the comm begins to beep from the cockpit.  They have no idea how long they were on Telos IV and so do not know how long they have been missing, especially given the council did not even know they were returning to the planet.  Still neither move to answer it, too drained to care.

 

A while later, Arlie guesses a few hours, Dooku begins to wake.

“Arghh.” He groans as he wakes immediately feeling the pain.

“Morning.” Arlie says in a whisper, she was barely conscious at this point and in incredible amounts of agony, she’d have had a constant stream of tears down her face had her skin not still been overly hot from the light burns she could barely feel.

“What, is going on?” Dooku asks voice full of pain.

“Captured, tortured, possibly escaped?  We don’t really know in all honesty.” Quin says.

“What we do know is that…” Arlie says before trailing off and having to focus to realign her sentence in her mind, she licked her cracked and peeling lips before attempting to speak again, “Whatever may have been there, is gone now.  All of it, and we have forgotten whatever happened.”

“So, any return trip would be meaningless.” Dooku says, Arl attempts to nods before freezing as tears do spill out of her eyes.

“Thank the force.” Quinlan whispers, the other two cannot help but agree.  If there was one thing they were certain of, it was that none of them would ever look at Telos IV the same way again, they may not remember what happened, but they can remember the terror they felt, none of them used to that feeling.

 

 

Arlie slowly wakes up to the healer’s ward on Coruscant, she blearily looks around feeling a pleasant floating sensation that let her know she was on pain medication.

“Morning Arl.” Her master whispers next to her, she turns and sees both of them there making her question which one of them spoke.

“Quinlan, Dooku.” She says immediately as she tries to sit up only to be in pain again, she looks to her arms and sees white bandages covering all of it, and a cast on one, feeling her neck, she knows the bandages are there too.

“Your ribs have been healed though you will have some spectacular bruising.  There wasn’t much they could do for your broken wrist with your burns so extensive, which they also could not heal fully.  Your ankle was sprained so that had been strapped and your three broken toes set.  For whatever reason, your entire force presence was fighting very hard against all of their attempts to heal so not much has been done.” Mace tells her, she nods her understanding.

“I suppose they will want to try again while I am conscious then.” Mace nods.

“Quinlan is in the next room waiting for Dooku to wake up.  He was conscious when he arrived but had to be put under to get the leg prosthetic put on.  He should be waking up any time now.  He had a concussion, Quin said he had been unconscious, they believe the concussion to have been the cause.  He has been healed as best they can, though he was very reluctant to let them near him and as resistant to their healing as you.  Quinlan was worse than the both of you, his burns have been lightly healed enough to prevent infection, his throat only enough so that he can breathe unimpaired.  Apparently, he broke off a piece of the joint in his shoulder that lodged itself in where the ball of the shoulder should have been which prevented them from putting it back.  He had to have surgery, Dooku waited on his prosthesis to ensure Quinlan woke up okay after that.  He got his shoulder fixed up but would not allow them to heal it properly even while unconscious and so they’ve had to put a cast on it.” He adds.

“Yes, if Shmi had not mentioned teaching non-force related first aid you may all be dead or dying, especially you and Dooku, Quinlan would have been permanently disabled.  Plus, none of the packs you used would have been on the ship.” Micah tells her, she nods fuzzily.

“Got it, appreciate the mother.” She says, the door opens revealing Dooku in a wheelchair being pushed by Quinlan who appeared to be regretting the decision, probably because of his shoulder.  Following those two was Yoda and Healer Terza.

“Brilliant, you are all awake, would one of you like to tell us what the Sith happened to you?” Terza asks.

“That’s just racist.” Quin mutters making Arlie giggle.  “Well I thought on it Arl and you were right, I was being a bigoted imbisule.” Dooku looks oddly proud.

“As we have said, none of us remember what happened.  I know nothing before waking up on the ship to these two staring depressingly at each other.” Dooku tells the healer looking annoyed, no doubt this was not the first or even second time someone had asked them what happened.

“I just remember frantically trying to turn the ship on and helping get him on board, flying off and then realising I had no idea what was going on.” Quinlan tells them, all look to Arlie.

“I was pulling Dooku out of the fire, it was important, it hurt but I had to keep pulling, I couldn’t let him go back in.  I suddenly realised I had no idea what was going on, but I saw Quin running onto the ship and the engines starting so I pulled harder knowing I had to get on board, Quin came out and helped before heading back to the cockpit.  I checked Dooku over wondering why he was unconscious and found evidence of…an aggressive ordeal.  So, when Quin got back I told him to check himself over and then a little while later Dooku woke up, not long after I passed out.” Arl tells them.

“You remember the fire?” Dooku asks surprised, she looks to Quin.

“You don’t?” She asks confused, he shakes his hand gesturing that he kinda did kinda didn’t.

“I remember you asking if that had been the whole factory on fire and I said yes because it was, but I don’t remember actually seeing it.”

“Well I remember the factory up in flames and dragging Dooku out, that’s it.”  Everyone seems rather perturbed.

“Are you sure it was the same factory?” Micah asks, the three look confused.

“Why?”  They all ask.

“Well, you were missing for three days, take out travel time and that’s a day and a half unaccounted for, plus none of you seem to have seen the actual building.  I am just wondering if you were moved because it seems odd to hold you in the place everyone would think to look.” Micah explains.

“Did anyone?” Quinlan asks, all present shook their heads beside the injured trio.

“Contacted Telos IV we did, left the planet they said you had.  Told us that welcome on the planet we were not.”  Yoda says looking pointedly at Arlie who looked completely unbothered.

“That government official was a turd.” She states before giggling, Micah hides a laugh behind his hand “Wait, Quin, you looked like rat shit, you aren’t pushing up daisies so you’re feeling better?”

“I looked like shit, I’m not…gardening? So, I am feeling better?” Quin asks trying to work from context.

“You looked like shit and you aren’t disrupting the plant life, pushing up daisies like digging or burying so, you aren’t dead.” Dooku discerns, Arl nods.

“Yes, that.” She says still nodding, Micah leans forwards and grabs her head to stop her, she giggles.

“I believe now that she knows we are okay, she is not fighting so much and the drugs are overriding her self-control.” Mace says, the others nod.

“Maul got away.” Arlie says suddenly, the other two nod.

“Or he burned in the fire?” Quinlan offers but something just does not seem right about the statement, no Maul was out there alive and free and they all knew it.

“We’ll get him Arl.” Micah tells her, she nods looking serious again.

“Yes, we will.”

 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Arl was sitting in her living room with Dooku on the couch and Quinlan on the ground beside her as they attempted to puzzle out what had happened on Telos IV.  They had been back for two days, Arlie was technically still supposed to be with the Healers, actually, they all were, but this was far more important and the healers kept insisting they could talk about it later.  Garen was less surprised than he should have been when he walked out of his room and saw the three sitting there.

“Hang on, what’s wrong with this picture?” Arlie asks, Garen shrugs.

“You three are supposed to be in the healer’s wing?” He suggests sarcastically as he goes to make caff.

“No, that is my room, why are you always in my room?” Arl complains, she was still on a lot of pain medication, while she fought the sluggish brain well, it still often got the better of her.  She also kept napping a lot which was driving her nuts, she’d never been a napper. Haha, been a napper, sounds like she’s stealing a bunch of shit, (Okay yeah see this is what I meant by the drugs still sometimes getting the better of me.)

“Why are you three always in the same room?  Ever since you got back you haven’t been more than ten feet away from each other, and that is only because that is how far apart the beds are in the room you are all supposed to be in.” Garen tells them, Quinlan waves a hand dismissively at him.  Tahl walks in through the open door followed by Bant and Xanatos.

“Good you are up, I need help.” Tahl says laying out her work on the Ancient text on the coffee table.

“You were working with them?” Garen asks Xanatos looking confused, Xan huffs at him.

“No, I’ve been staying with them while my Master was in the healer’s wing, I’m not allowed to be alone remember?” Xanatos says testily, Garen winces.

“Sorry.” He says, Xan sighs.

“No, I am, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“Why with them?  Why not Little Obi and Qui?” Arl asks dozily blinking before her eyes refocus on the room.

“Yeah you should not be here.” Bant says, Arl mimics Quinlan’s earlier hand dismissal wincing slightly at the pull on her burns.

“If we are all going to be here talking then someone make tea for when we wake Winni and Mic who I am assuming is in there as well since you are here for some reason in _my room_.” Arl says pointedly to Garen who rolls his eyes.

“Too late.” Mace says from his bedroom door looking very unhappy, thankfully Garen had thought ahead and made tea when he made his caff, he put it in Mace’s hands directly and almost immediately Mace smiles more. “Good Padawan.” He mutters moving to the armchair and sinking into it with his tea.

“Pre-Tea Mace is never gonna not be adorable and terrifying.” Arl says gaining a few nods, then she looks around confused.

“Where is my other Master?” Arl asks Mace.

“Okay first of all, you are Knighted, and B, he’s still asleep.” Tahl looks at him like he’s a cute puppy who just did something ridiculous.

“First and B, huh?”

“Shut up.” He grumbles good naturedly, Tahl laughs.

“You have successfully butchered a language before we’ve even done it correctly.” Dooku says looking at her work, Tahl sighs.

“Yes, I realise that, I tried to get Qui-Gon’s help like you suggested but he was really busy while you were gone.” Tahl says.

“Yes, he’s been with Obi-Wan ever since Little Obi had a particularly nasty panic attack after greeting the new Senator of Naboo.” Mace explains forgetting that Quin and Dooku are not as up to date on things as the other occupants of the room.

“Why would that give him a panic attack?” Quin asks while Dooku just looks concerned for his grand-padawan.

“He’s a Sith.” Arl tells them, they both look shocked. “Well, being possessed by one anyway.”

“Sheev Palpatine?” Dooku asks, Arl nods and Quin suddenly snaps his fingers.

“Yes, I remember being told about that before Part 2.” Quin says to the confusion of everyone but Dooku and Arlie.

“When did this greeting happen?” Dooku asks.

“Four days ago.”

“During Return of the Jedi, was he on Coruscant through Incognito?” Quinlan asks.

“You’re a daft idiot sometimes Quin.” Arl says rolling her eyes.

“I’ve no idea what any of that meant Vos but he hasn’t left Coruscant since he got here.”

“Which means he has a secure way of contacting Maul from here.”

“Or Maul is running more autonomously than we believed.”

“Or he possessed him.”

“I hate not knowing things!” Arl says annoyed as she drops her head on the table, she sighs. “Okay hate is a strong word, I dislike it.” She amends realising the former to be incorrect. 

“If you three are done with ‘Guess the Sith’s level of Communication.’ Can we get back to the language I screwed up?” Tahl requests, “I have looked at it so long the characters are just swirls before my eyes.”

“Gareeeeen.” Arl whines before a paper pad and pen are placed in front of her, as in he was already doing so before she even opened her mouth. “You know me so well.”  She begins writing illegibly on the paper, looking between the two often.

“That will not work Arl.” Dooku says.

“Will you just let me work Doo.” Arl requests.

“Can you even see straight right now?”

“Yes, she can, but only because the meds are wearing off.” Quin says observing how she tightened her jaw against a wince when she curled her fingers around the pen.

“So, opportune time, before the pain is too bad but while I can still think.” Xanatos shakes his head half-heartedly.

“I am going to go check on Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.” He announces, Arl looks up as she sees others begin to debate who will accompany him.

“Perhaps you were right, I’ll go with him.” Arl says putting the pen down, everyone looks at her suspiciously so she picks the pen back up, opens to a fresh page and puts the pen against it.  It scribbles along with her shaking.  “Even I cannot deny that, plus I want to check on Little Obi.”  They all seem mollified by her answer.

Xanatos and Arlie leave the living quarters with Arlie internally cursing her inability to help with the translation but glad she can check on her not yet but hopefully one day soon to be step-brother.

“So, did you enjoy my fun house?” Xanatos asks maliciously beside her, she looks over quickly and sees his eyes are yellow.

“I’ve been in better ones.” She replies dryly while panicking, she could not defend herself well right now.   Still largely cut off from her preferred use of the force, she could not fight properly, hells, it takes most of her effort to walk in a semi-straight line and speak properly.  Worst of all, he knows all of this.

“I suppose I shall have to try harder next time, how do you think your dear friends liked it?” He asks, Arl bits her cheek against the pain in preparation for her pushing him up against the wall with her arm, she blinks back what she hopes were unnoticeable tears in her eyes.

“Leave them alone Wrath.” She says evenly.

“Why should I?” Arl has no answer for that.

“What happened in the time we cannot remember?  And why did we forget?” She asks knowing that if he did not know of their memory loss before, he would now from Xan’s memories.

“Do not worry child, you will find out, in time.” He says, “I do so love the Senate dome, perhaps I’ll show you around sometime?”

“I think I’ll just show you to a grave instead.”

“Now that was not very Jedi-like.”

“I am not very Jedi-like, but anything is better than you.” She says putting her unlit lightsaber hilt against his throat, “Let. Xan. Go.” She demands, he smiles condescendingly at her.

“We both know you won’t do it Arleia.  But fine, have your pathetic friend back.” Xan slumps and she buckles under the weight sending them both sprawling to the floor where they land in a heap of limbs.  She sends a way of energy through to Xan which successfully wakes him up. “Dammit Arleia why didn’t you call for help?!” Xanatos asks as he immediately gets off of her and helps her up, she flinches back. “Arlie?”

“Sorry just, I, I don’t know.  Calling for help ends badly…” She says looking confused before looking up to him, “You called me Arleia, why?” She demands confused.

“I…don’t know…It just kind of came out.” He says sheepishly, she pulls herself together.

“Well it just kind of can’t.  A name, no one cares, but there is a lot of stuff that Wrath is saying that you _should not be saying_. Control yourself, control your mind, control your body, and you can control him.  Enough to kick him out anyway.” Arlie tells him gesturing with her lightsaber hilt before signalling for him to continue walking, he looks appropriately chastised as he does.

 

“Arlie, XanaohmygodsArlie!  What the force happened to you?” Qui-Gon asks as he opens the door to their quarters.  Between the cast, the bandages, the cuts that looks like claw marks on her cheek and the colourful bruising on her face, she’s surprised this hasn’t been a constant reaction of people.

“Good fucking question.” Arlie mutters viciously. “It is complicated, may we come in?”

“Yes of course.” He says allowing them past, Obi is sitting on the couch with his knees up to his chin and his arms wrapped around his legs.

“I couldn’t help the research effort so I thought we could come by and see how everything was going.” Arl explains, Qui nods.

“Did you finish your investigation?” Qui asks curiously.

“Possibly, there was a thing, we are not really sure.  We know who did it, not why, not how, nor do we know where they are now or anything really.  And then the thing happened and to be honest, I’m not convinced we helped ourselves by returning for part 2 let alone part 3.” Arl says sadly earning confused looks from Qui and Xan. “Quinlan’s an idiot, don’t worry.” She explains, hilariously they both accept that as an answer.  Xanatos and Qui-Gon talk quietly as Arl heads over and takes a seat next to Obi-Wan.

“Hi.” The boy says meekly, she smiles kindly at him.

“Hi.  Listen, I know who he is, why you are afraid of him and I know how hard this whole possession thing is for you to accept…” Arl starts saying but is interrupted by Obi-Wan’s derisive snort.

“How could you possibly know or understand any of that?” He asks snarkily, she smiles sadly.

“Will you come with me somewhere?” Arl requests, he looks hesitant but nods and accepts the hand she offers, holding it lightly when he sees the bandages.  Even that causes her considerable pain since the medication has worn off a lot but she hides it perfectly. “Qui-Gon, stay with Xan, actually take him back to my quarters, everyone was there a few minutes ago and he has to tell them about his latest episode.  I need to show Obi-Wan something.” Qui-Gon nods so all four of them leave the room before heading in opposite directions.

 

A few minutes later Arlie and Obi-Wan walk into the council chamber that is, thankfully, empty.

“How did you know the code to get in here?” Obi-Wan asks whispering as though someone may over hear.

“I was once on the council.” She tells him, he looks confused but she quiets whatever questions he was about to ask with a shake of her head.  “Almost sixteen years ago I walked into this room and found it littered with the dead.  Not just any, but Jedi Younglings that had been slaughtered.” Obi-Wan gasps horrified.  “I travelled in time, I do not know how, and I ended up in the past.”

“You know your life is warped when that sentence is only mildly surprising.” Obi says after a few moments silence, “Why are you telling me this?” he asks confused.

“Because the one who slaughtered these younglings was a Sith, named Darth Vader.  He was once a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker.” She tells him feeling tears fill her eyes, Obi shakes his head in disbelief as his eyes widen.  “I did not know at the time that Wrath had messed with his mind so completely, had been manipulating him since he was nine years old.  All I knew was that my little brother was a Sith.  He murdered the younglings, and everyone else in the temple.  I confronted him down here but I could not fight him, I said I would let him kill me but he left me alive.  A while later you and Yoda found me here, Yoda knew he had to be dealt with but all I could think about was protecting my brother.  Yoda and I fought, as in truly fought, lightsabers and everything.” Obi-Wan’s eyes widen at the words, highly engaged as she tells him a part of her past.  “Mic stopped the fight but I would not give up, you hit me in the head with the hilt of your lightsaber and knocked me out.  I woke up on Tatooine with my Mum and Step-dad, one of my step-brothers, my nephew, Mic, and my padawan.  Mic told me that Vader had killed his wife and nearly the twins she was pregnant with along with her.”

“Oh Arlie.” Obi-Wan says not sure what else to do but wishing he could take her pain away.

“Twelve years later I left to find Garen, who by this point had fallen and was on a mad hunt to kill Sidious for murdering his padawan, despite it being someone else that did it but they were already dead and had been working for Sidious. I found him and promised to help him so long as he would go back to the farm on Tatooine and let our Master help him afterwards, he agreed.  Then Vader turned up and slaughtered him right in front of me.” Arl sobs out the last word, she should try to control it, but she is too tired to care. He comes forward and hugs her, “I did not know that it wasn’t his fault until Dooku and I found Xanatos on Telos IV and I spoke with Wrath the first time.”

“How do you stand being around Ani?  Because I do not know how to be around…him…after we save him.” Obi says brokenly, she holds him close in a way she never could in the future but always wished to knowing he was her brother.

“Anakin is different, he has not done any of it yet, hopefully never will.  He has no memory of it.”

“What about Xanatos?” Arl ponders that for a moment as she rubs soothing circles into his back.

“I remember that it could have been anyone.  Doesn’t really make sense to hold it against Xanatos after that does it?” Obi-Wan smiles into her shoulder.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Obi-Wan, in the other timeline, your father Cliegg married my mother.  I realise that has not happened here, not yet anyway, but you were my brother long before we knew they were married.  So, if you ever need anything, even just to talk or vent frustration, I will always be here for you.”

“Thank you, sister.” Obi says with a smile, she reaches up and ruffles his hair which is quite awkward given the height difference and amount of pain the action causes her, but she manages.

 

The two began heading back to her quarters soon after, it was not until they were in the right hallway that Obi spoke up.

“How old are you?”

“Fifty.” She replies, he’s quiet for a moment before laughing. “What?”

“Your fifty-one in a week, you are so old!” Obi-Wan declares, she swats the back of his head and immediately regrets the action as she hisses out a pained breath.

“Yeah well, we’ll see how good you look at fifty-one, coz I am rocking it.” She declares, they both laugh.

“So you were forty-eight when you came back in time?” He asks quietly slowing his pace so that they do not reach the door.

“Technically yes.” He raises a confused eyebrow, “This was not exactly my first trip to the past only the other time I had not grown up here.  It was on a planet very, very far away.”

“That’s where you picked up the weird sayings and stuff right?” She nods.

“I was forty-eight when I came back but biologically, I was a decade younger.”

“Okay, so last time you were younger than me by six years but also older by four, now you are younger than me by six years but also older by thirty-four years?  That must be annoyingly confusing.”

“No kidding.  But reality is all about perception, I often ignore my physical age and just act as I normally would, people deal with that however they choose and I just go with it.”

“But even though you should be, you have never really been my little sister, always my older.  Even though our family would have thought otherwise, wasn’t that annoying?  Being treated as the younger?  Not just with us but in other situations?”

“A bit I suppose.  But I did not get to know our family much before, well something bad happened.  No one could treat me as a child after that, Yoda and I were on par in the eyes of the galaxy so it stopped mattering so much.  Of course, I was twenty-two when that happened biologically.”

“How old were you when you got on the council?”

“It was about seven years after I was knighted so, I’d have been twenty in their eyes, actually thirty.”

“Wow.” Obi says as the two reach the perpetually open doors. “Remind me to never underestimate you.”

“You’ve just learnt this?” Micah asks from the kitchen counter he’s leaning against.

“No, I’ve just received information that makes me pity anyone who still hasn’t though.”  No one could disagree with that one.

 

 

A few weeks later Arlie is sitting in the healer’s ward with Quinlan and Dooku who are waiting anxiously as monitors are attached to all three of them.

“We just need to make sure everything is okay in case this goes wrong, I still think it is much too early to even attempt.” Terza tells them, Arl shrugs and hides the wince that causes, badly.

“All right, let’s just do this.” Arl says flexing her fingers, she could move them properly now though it still hurt like hell, but hopefully it would enable her to heal the other two.  She did not quite have the movement in her arms to heal herself but Bellan is watching her closely hoping to be able to imitate the move to heal her.  Arl had been instructing as best she could to a few healers, but this would be the first true test. “First, I’ll heal Dooku, then you heal Quin.  If you get it wrong I’ll be here to heal him so do not worry about that.”

“Then if I get it right, I heal you right?” she asks, Arl nods. “Why isn’t Master Terza doing this?” Bellan asks looking nervous before breathing deeply and centring herself.

“Because it is easier for a child to learn than an adult.  Once I understand how to instruct better I will teach her.”  Arl then moves and takes the bandages off of her arm, Terza was not happy but understood the necessity of Bellan seeing the movements clearly.  She then swirls her hands and fingers in a pattern a few times before placing her fingers to look like eyes with a diamond on top and then pushing the force through to do her bidding, Dooku’s cuts and bruises all heal up as do the burns that were nearly healed anyway.  There was not much to do on him, unfortunately his force presence was still unconsciously fighting attempts to heal and so there was slight scarring.  Bellan then attempts to do it to Quinlan, it seems to work though the burns on his face scar slightly as Dooku’s had.

“Well, you’ve got the bad boy look down.” Terza offers as she hands him a mirror, he moves his head back and forth a few times.

“I’ll take it.” He says grinning, Arl rolls her eyes at him fondly.

“Okay, you’re up undergrown.” Terza tells her, at her confused look Bellan starts laughing.

“Have you not heard people calling you that? Undergrown Master?” Arl shakes her head with a resigned expression on her face, this was better than ‘Pirate Raised’.

“Just get on with it.” Arl requests attempting to ignore the pain.  She was on less painkillers now but she had to have a clear head to use force-magic which meant using even less to the point she wasn’t sure if it were helping at all.  Terza had promised when she said as much that if she stopped using it, she’d notice the difference.  Arl opted to take her word for it.

“Okay then, here it goes.” Bellan says looking nervous but more confident this time, she follows the same routine pattern and pushes the force out.  Having it done on her, Arlie can sense where she is going wrong, she’s trying to let the force direct it but it only goes so far on its own, she needs to will it.  Arl does not wish to break her concentration though, that could be bad, and accepts the fact that for now, she’s just going to have extensive scarring.

“To be honest, it is better than I was expecting after the last one.” Terza tells her, Arl looks at her arms, there was a lot of scarring but it was certainly paler than she was expecting and would still fade some more with time, she could live with that even if it would always be visible.

“Well, if that is all, I’d like to go hug my little brother.” Arl requests, Terza looks over her arms first, does an assessment and then agrees to release her, she clasps her hand on Bellan’s shoulder as she passes her, “You did good kid.” She tells her, Bellan smiles glad for the reassurance, no one noticed the absurdity of the statement coming from her.  Arl practically skips through the hall earning many a disapproving look from Masters and shocked looks from Padawans, somehow the Knights seemed unperturbed…probably because they are used to Quinlan being crazy or something.

Arlie makes it to her Mother and Brother’s temporary quarters and opens the door to see her brother holding a pillow and running laps around the couch while Obi-Wan chases him, it takes her a moment to realise this is not a game and Obi is genuinely trying to catch him, her Mother is nowhere in sight.

“CLOSE THE DOOR!” Obi yells to her, she does just before Anakin runs through it, she takes the opportunity to grab the collar of his tunic to stop him from running.

“What the kriff is going on?” Arl asks mildly upset.

“Obi said I’d be easy to babysit.” Anakin pouts, Arl grows more confused though it did partially explain her Mother’s absence and Obi’s presence.

“That’s a good thing Ani.” Arlie tells him, her confusion clear in her voice.

“Oh…sorry Obi.” Anakin says handing back the pillow and giving him a hug, Obi-Wan looks like he’d just witnessed Anakin growing two heads and handed him one of them.

“Obi-Wan?” Arl asks still looking for an explanation.

“Your Mother was invited to go shopping with one of your Masters so she asked me to babysit since you’re so busy right now, I said something about Anakin being easy to babysit since I’ve done it before you know, the creche, apparently he took that as a personal challenge and stole your Mother’s favourite and very delicate pillow.” He says with a pointed glare at the five-year-old who pokes his tongue out in return.

“Okay, Anakin put the pillow back and write an apology letter to Mum, Obi will help you write it.  Obi-Wan, you are a Jedi, there are many better ways you could have handled this so while helping Anakin write his letter you are going to write a report of this for you Master explaining what happened, what you did wrong, and what you need to do differently.” Arlie dictates.

“Yes Arl.” “Yes Arleia.” The two boys say respectively. Arl nods.

“Now I only came here to hug my brothers with my newly improved arms.” Arl says, they both smile and hug her, Anakin in her arms and Obi, using his height, embraces them both.

 

 

The next day Arlie wakes early and heads to the library unsurprised to see Dooku, Tahl and Bant there, the two former asleep as the latter continues looking over the Ancestral Language.

“Has anyone tried reading it aloud?” Arl asks without greeting scaring the crap out of Bant.

“Kriff! Um…no I do not believe so.”

“Well, you know when you are learning a language and you can learn all you like about the characters, pronunciation, accentuation, and meaning, but eventually you just have to read it out loud to get it right?  Maybe we should do that backwards here?”

“The language is supposedly the base language for Old Sith and The Ancient Language of the Jedi, right? So, some words the two of us may be able to recognise after saying it aloud?  Maybe the characters are what’s tripping us up?” Arl nods her agreement and so Bant begins to attempt to read it with Arlie looking over her shoulder.

ndị nwere nke a aru

 

nwere e outlawed kemgbe e kere anyị hụrụ n'anya ka. Onye Okike, ọ si mesoo ya na ya na ị na chere na ọ obi na nnọọ erubeghị uche nke ike na usoro ebumpụta ụwa nke ihe. lasasịa a nwere spirit onye nanị nwere adọwa ya site mmadụ bi ahu. mgbe dispersion mkpụrụ obi nwere ike ma na-rekasịrị ma ọ bụ na ọ nwere ike dị. mkpụrụ obi dsintegration bụ naanị a completable feat maka kere Otú ọ dị ka nwere a spirit niile otu ga-eme bụ uche ya na na collection, anyị na-achọ gị chi gị ego.

 

They may not know it fluently, but Arlie got the impression that if it weren’t a perfect pronunciation, it was pretty dang close.

“Okay say that first bit again?  We know the first three words, ‘possessing has been outlawed’ or it may still be ‘possessing had been outlawed’.” Arl says.

“Yes, we can keep that in mind for future grammatical reference but for now let’s just read it as has. So, Possessing had been outlawed kemgebe ee kiri angihurunangah.” She reads, before looking thoughtful, “Possessing isn’t right either, by our language it should be possession.” She says, Arl makes a note of it.

“Okay, kemgebe, spelt Kemgbe. Sounds related to the Sith word kemb, it means Create.”

“Also the Ancient Jedi word megbe.” Bant adds, Arl nods.

“To begin existing.  Create, creation maybe?” Bant nods and writes it down.

“We’ll find out later, now the next part is ‘e’.  If we have Possessing had been outlawed e creation, could it be since?”

“It could be but I believe we need more context for that one, write it down though.”

This goes on for a few hours, miraculously the other two do not awaken from the noise, eventually though Bant and Arl believe they have a rough idea of what the document is saying and wake them.

“What’s going on?” Tahl asks blearily sensing no danger.

“We have a working idea of what the document says.” Arl says.

“Roughly.” Bant amends earning a nod from Arlie.

“Well go on then.” Dooku requests waking up immediately as he always does.  Training under Sidious would do that to you Arl supposes.

“possessing had been outlawed since creation of our much loved order. the creator, have dealt with it in her youth deems it barbaric and plainly disregarding the will of the force and the natural order of things.  to disperse a possessing spirit one merely had to rip it from the inhabited body. after dispersion the soul can either be disintegrated or it can be tamed. soul disintegration is only a completable feat for the creator however to contain a spirit all one must do is will it in to the collection, we wish you luck in your venture.” Bant says.

“There were a few times that we could have guessed a more appropriate word but didn’t want to change it in case it mucked up later translations.  We want to keep working on this to get a proper idea of it but for now we figure that says enough.” Arleia tells them.

“I think that says beloved not ‘much loved’.” Dooku says looking over the girls’ work.  Arlie notes it down.

“So how do you ‘merely rip’ a possessing soul from a body?” Tahl asks, “And who is the creator?”

“What collection, how do we ‘will it in’.” Arlie adds as Bant notices something in the words.

“That says contained, not tamed.” Bant says pointing between the words contain and tamed, Arl nods and notes it down. “Creator, ‘creation of our beloved order’, I think it means the one who started the Jedi Order, or well, whatever came before it.”

“Well they must be long dead.” Arlie remarks.

“Not necessarily, remember what Yoda said?  His Master created the order and lived much longer than she should have.” Dooku reminds her, Tahl nods.

“Yes, but did he mean the order or the Jedi Order?”

“Jedi Order seems more likely, it is newer.” Bant replies to her master, Arl shakes her head.

“We cannot assume that, we must ask Yoda himself.”

 

The four grab their work, carefully replace the document in its protective case and put it on the shelves before heading to Yoda’s quarters.

“Enter you may.” He calls just before Arlie presses the door chime, they enter.

“It is creepy when you do that Master.” Arlie tells him, he smiles serenely.

“A question you have, ask it you should.”

“Your Master, you said she created the order, did you mean the Jedi or what came before?” Dooku asks bluntly knowing that while he gave riddles all the time, Yoda hated receiving them, presumably now because of this Master of his.

“Come, sit.” The troll requests, they do. “My Master, ancient she was, know how I do not.  Told a story she once did when leaving she was.  ‘A lonely little girl, lost in a brand new world with powers no one could imagine.  She did not want to be alone so she trained others to be like her and the order of the force was born. Greed and fear corrupted the peace and soon her beloved order split in three, the third sect died off quickly but the others grew strong.  Only destruction can be while the order is split.  One day it will be reunited, that is when I will return young one, to help it reunite.  It must make its own mistakes if it is to learn from them.’” They listen raptly to his words even as his eyes grow watery from the memory of his Master leaving. “All I know this is, interpret it you must if wish to find an answer you do.”

“What do you believe?” Bant asks as the other three exchange glances and begin thinking over the story and committing every detail to memory.

“Believe I do that create this she did, understand why she let it fall apart I never could.  Explain one day I hope she will when recreated the order of the force is.” Yoda says the unspoken ‘If I am still alive’ heard loud and clear.  Bant moves forward and hugs the little Master.

“That must have been frightening.” He gently pats her head.

“Questions you still have?” Yoda asks, Arl nods feverishly.

“What was your Master’s name?  How old was she?  What species?  Where was she from?” She says, Dooku chuckles at her.

“You sound like Qui-Gon when he was a teenager asking questions while demanding he be allowed to go out with Tahl and Micah.” He tells her at her questioning look, Tahl sniggers at that remembering it well.

“15’239-years-old she would be.”

“Quite the approximation.” Tahl says dryly, Yoda smiles disarmingly at her.

“Human she is.” Arl’s jaw drops.

“That is not possible!  Actually, I take that back, it is possible but not while living it all out like you are describing!” She exclaims loudly.

“What other way is there?” Bant asks confused.

“So very many but none describe this.” She replies, Yoda shrugs.

“Say I did that knew how I did not.” Arl nods accepting that.

“Where was she from?  You did not say?” Dooku asks, Yoda mutters to himself frustratedly.

“I do not know.” He says, everyone looks shocked.

“That was not backwards!” Tahl literally squeaks.

“Much practice I have at saying that sentence.” He replies.

“Fair enough, now how do you not know?” Arl asks impatiently earning her a swat on the back of her head from Dooku.

“Complicated her history was.  Once, covered in meadows Coruscant was, in a small hut where this temple is she used to live.  Created there the order was, travelled the galaxy beforehand she did, know where she started I think even she did not.”

“How?” Bant asks confused.

“No, that one I understand.” Arl says, Bant looks confused.

“What do you mean? You’re from Tatooine.”

“I spent two or three years there.  Before that I was on a freighter, after I was on another freighter, then a pirate ship, then here, ish.  Never in a place long enough to really call it being ‘from there’.  How do you answer that question when you have no home to be from?  I’ve only ever said Tatooine because that’s where my family lives, it is not where I consider my home planet or where I would say ‘I am from’ to be.”

“I guess that makes sense, but then where is?” Tahl asks curiously, Arl looks to the ground she’s sitting on, the air in the room taking on a melancholy tone as her great sadness fills it.  She misses Earth and her family so very much sometimes, tries not to think about how long it’s been but sometimes, she cannot help but do exactly that.  She sighs as she realises she has not yet answered the question, and knows there is only one true answer.

“A long way from here.”


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Knight Orla, stop, whatever it is you are doing just stop.” Arlie requests interrupting the sparring match between Das Orla and one of Arlie’s other students, Petra Hone.  “Okay, Das, sit down and watch for a moment, not with your eyes but with the force.  Hone, attack.” Arl requests centring herself, holding her hands behind her back and closing her eyes, opening her awareness to the force around her.  She feels the currents of the force as Petra does the same only keeping her eyes open.  She swings her arm towards Arl who duck under it, jumps and rolls in the air over a kick that would have hit her shoulder (Stupidly short), she summersaults between Petra’s legs which gets her out of the way of the knee Petra sent her way.  They dance like this for a moment before Orla simply ‘pokes’ something in the aura of the force, Arl gets kicked in the head and tumbles to the ground landing in the perfect position to continue fighting however she yields.

“I did not do that did I?” Petra asks.

“Sorry my friend, no.  Orla, what did you notice?”

“You were not listening to the force, you were watching it for the discrepancies of Petra not doing what it suggested.  I just changed something else in the force and it threw you off.” Arl smiles and gathers the class around her.

“Everyone, I told you to use the force, listen to it telling you how your opponent will move instead of trusting it to tell you how to, but in doing so, you are not doing as it requests.  In the force, that leaves a…hole I suppose, a part of the force not behaving as the rest does.  When fighting an opponent using the same technique, you must balance listening to the force, and looking for what it cannot tell you.”  They seem confused but many look to know what she means even if it does not yet make sense.

“Master Aa where did you learn this?” Knight Hone asks.

“Not doing what I am told comes naturally to me.” She tells them and hears a snicker behind her.

“No kidding.” Mace says from the doorway.

“Master.” Arlie says bowing to him respectfully as do the Knights around her.  “Can I help you with something?”

“I just came to observe the class, the council wants an update.  Micah was being a two-year-old so Yoda decided he would not get what he wants and sent me instead.” Mace says, Arlie badly covers a laugh as do many other knights.

“Well, pair off again guys, continue as before but keep my words in mind.” The class immediately follows her instructions as she is joined by Mace.

“You have been at this for three weeks, ever since your arms were healed.  The council does not believe enough progress has been made.” He tells her as they begin wandering past the sparring pairs.

“It is difficult to train people to do what they view as the opposite of what they have been taught their whole lives.” Arlie reminds him.

“I realise that, as do they, but there are worries that with everything you are doing, you’re spread too thin to complete your task.  With no one else who can do it, well they are frightened.”

“What do they expect me to do?” She hisses to him so that her students will not hear.

“I do not know Arl, but with the shielding, healing, and these classes plus the specialist ones for Xanatos and the private tutoring you are giving to the padawans, your efforts for the research venture are lacking.  Not to mention your sleep.  I think it is the minimal amount of spare time you have that they have an issue with.”

“What, they do not think I should be spending time in the creche?”

“It is not that Arlie, but they believe you should be taking your time for meditation, you seem stressed.” Arl rolls her eyes and stops walking to look at him with her arms crossed.

“The research venture is Dooku, Tahl, and Bant’s project, I just help out when I can.  Those kids in the creche, they are the ones that have to become Padawans, the Padawans to the Knights being forced into this mess.  They will be learning things completely differently from any time before and what they are doing in the creche is preparing them as well as it has these guys.  Plus, my time down there has increased effort and scores of every initiate in there.  Xanatos has not had ‘an episode’ since a week after my instruction with him began and those Padawans and Initiates I am tutoring in sparring, could beat half the Knights in this room.  As for the Knights in this room, you do not believe I am making progress?  Paeree, come here.” Arlie requests, the Knight in question walks over and bows immediately.

“Yes Master?”

“You and Master Windu are going to spar, use everything I have taught you and your own training.  Remain calm and listen to the force as you have learnt to here.” Arlie tells him encouragingly, he nods without hesitation or fear.  Mace wanders to the centre of the mat as Arlie calls the other Knights over to watch.

It’s ten minutes later that Mace is pinned on the ground and yields.

“Congratulations Knight Paeree.” Mace says bowing to her, her eyes widen at the recognition of battle superiority he is giving, she smiles widely.

“Thank you Master.” She replies bowing as well.

“Class dismissed.” Arlie announces noticing the time, “Report that to the council.” Arlie tells Mace testily as she walks past him and out of the training hall.

 

Three hours later Micah walks in to the creche and finds his former shared Padawan with an armful of wookiee and a small Mon Calamari child attached to her leg as she helps a young human girl with what looks to be work from her classes.

“Having fun?” He asks her, she looks up and smiles at him.

“Master, how was time out?” She asks, he laughs.

“Boring, apparently I had to learn a lesson in patience and was forced to trim the grass in the meditation garden using only the force.” Arl winces.

“Yes, I remember that punishment well.” She says. “Good job Kyla.” Arl says giving the girl she is helping a smile, the girl high-fives her before running off to play.  “Kylara Holde, brilliant potential but is struggling to learn Basic.” She tells Micah, who nods.

“I thought all initiates learnt basic from a very young age.” He remarks not unkindly.

“They are taught it, some take longer to learn than others.  Oh, this is Initiate Tillandáar and that there is Initiate Roland Pierro.”

“Nice to meet you both.” Micah says with a bow, Roland releases Arlie’s leg and bows while the wookiee buries her face into Arlie’s shoulder.

“It’sa honour to meet you Master Gett.” Roland tells him, he smiles at the child and sits in the chair Kylara vacated, Roland takes the invitation to sit on his lap as Arl sits on the table in front of him.

“Tilli, are you going to say hello?” Arl asks the girl in her lap.

“ _Hello_.” She mumbles in Shyriiwook without turning her head, Micah raises an eyebrow at it but says nothing.

“Tilli’s real shy at the moment, the others were bein real mean to her coz she hears the force speakin and no one believes her.  But Master Aa saved her which was good coz I tried and they didn’t listen.” Roland tells Micah.

“ _Tattle tale_.” Tilli says turning slightly to see Mic before turning back into Arl’s shoulder.

“Everyone here can hear the force Tillandáar, it is nothing to be ashamed of.  And if you hear it better than others, that is a skill to be rejoiced in.” To Mic’s dismay, that disheartens the girl more than anything.

“I can’t get an explanation from her either.” Arl admits as she strokes the girl’s hair fondly, “But from what I hear, she doesn’t hear it better she hears it differently.”

“Differently how?” Mic asks, Tilli turns slightly again.

“ _It speaks to me_.” The girl says, Micah looks confused, Arl makes a face showing she does not understand either.

“What do you mean speaks to you?” Arlie asks, Tilli shrugs and looks to her friend for help, Roland straightens up.

“Most of us can fell the force, that’s what the teachers teached us anyway, but Tilli hears it speaking like we speak.” Micah looks surprised.

“You mean that it actually _talks_ to you?  In a voice?” He asks shocked but not disbelieving. 

_‘A force-seer is someone that the force has chosen to interact with in a more direct way than most force sensitive beings get to_ _’_

“Oh.” Arlie says remembering her mentor’s words, she could have just said that.  Stupid madam force-seer and her damn round about ways.

“ _I see her too_.” Tilli tells them.

“Her?” Micah asks, Tilli nods, Roland runs over to a draw and opens it, grabbing a piece of paper before running back.

“She’s drawed it.” He says as he climbs back into Mic’s lap holding out the crude drawing of a person.

“ _It_ _’s not very good, she_ _’s more beautiful in real life_.” Tilli says smiling and looking more confident now that she knows they aren’t mocking her.

“Tilli, how do you know it is the force?” Micah asks in a reassuring voice, he’s actually scared shitless that the Sith are influencing the young but recognizes the possibility of it truly being the force presenting itself this way, it had happened before.

“ _She told me, she_ _’s not like people, she_ _’s safe_.”

“If she speaks to you, does that mean that you could tell us what she says?”

“ _If you were truly willing to listen_.” Tilli responded after a moment, Mic looks a little surprised at the wording choice.

“She does that sometimes.  The force gives her the words and she sometimes chooses to use them.” Roland says.

“But sometimes you choose not to?” Mic asks.

“ _She don_ _’t_ _…doesn_ _’t, make me do things.  She just gives me an option I didn_ _’t see.  And words I don_ _’t know_.”

“That is a remarkable gift Tilli.” Arlie tells her, Mic looks at her and mouths ‘future’ wondering if she can confirm his suspicion, she nods and mouths back ‘force-seer’.  He had suspected, but facing the reality is quite different.

“Have you ever heard of a force-seer?” Mic asks, Arl nods in encouragement to him telling the little girl, she shakes her head.

“A force-seer is someone that the force has chosen to interact with in a more direct way than most force sensitive beings get to.  The force appearing to you and speaking to you, that is incredibly fortunate.  Force-seers are very rare.” Arlie says nicking her mentor’s definition, Micah looks approving.

“ _Why don_ _’t we learn about that in classes_?”

“Because many people believe that that particular talent is a myth.  If there have been any force-seers in the last few hundred years, they’ve kept it quiet.” Micah tells her.

“Is Master Yoda one?” Roland asks curiously, Mic looks thoughtful as does Arlie.

“I do not know.” Arl answers honestly.

“ _I can ask_?” Tilli offers.

“Is she…?” Mic begins to ask but the wookiee shakes her head.

“ _She_ _’s not hear right now but I can call her here_.”

“Tilli, would you mind if I told the council about this?” Micah asks her, she shrugs.

“I guess not.”

“They may have questions, if they ask to talk to her through you, both you and her can choose to say no, any questions you do not want to answer you do not have to.  We follow the will of the force before we follow the council.” Arlie tells her Micah nodding along.

“ _I don_ _’t mind, unless she tells me I can_ _’t so I suppose I should ask her._ _”_ Tilli says before closing her eyes, Arl and Micah feel for a change in the force, they aren’t very surprised when they do not feel a difference.

“Only I can feel the change, but I always know when she’s here, it’s warmer.  We’ve tested it, it was funny.” Roland says with a laugh, Tilli laughs too.

“ _They know your there_.” Tilli says to the air beside Micah’s chair, he turns half expecting to see some glowing embodiment of the force. “ _She says she doesn_ _’t glow so you can forget that right now_.” Tilli tells him, Arlie and he share an ecstatically bewildered smile and disbelieving laugh.

“My apologies…force.” Micah says, Tilli laughs at something she said but does not translate it.

“ _They wanna tell the council.  They said if they ask questions we can choose to not answer if we want_.” Tilli says, she looks thoughtfully at the reply for a moment.  “ _What does that mean_? … _Oh, okay then_.”

“Well?” Micah asks when she’s quiet for a long time.

“ _You can tell the council but she says there are somethings she will refuss_ _…refuse to answer_.” He nods his acceptance.  “ _She also says that you should state your true intention of coming down here since it was not to investigate bullying within the initiate rank_ _…oh, you know about that_.”

“True intention?” Arl asks as Tilli listens to what Arl guesses is a lecture of some kind.

“We’re worried about you Arlie.” Arl rolls her eyes.

“Not you too.”

“Arl! When was the last time you meditated?  Or slept?  Or ate for that matter?”

“I know my limits Mic, believe me I’ve been pushed to all of them.”

“You should not have to reach them, you have the chance to look after yourself, or you would, if you were not trying to do everything yourself.”

“Oh and who else is going to do it?  I left the research to others!”

“Arlie…”

“No Micah, stop.  Honestly, who else is going to do these things?  No one else knows force-magic and no one else knows the Sith like I do.” Mic narrows his eyes.

“You are lying.” He says looking hurt.

“Okay, there are people who know the Sith in a different way but for the purposes of what we are doing it is not necessarily better.” That was true at least, Dooku and Anarch may know it better but it is a different and less helpful kind of better. “More importantly, we cannot tell the council.”

“What?” Micah, Tilli and Roland all ask in confusion.

“ _Why would they do that_?” Tilli asks the air, “ _She said that the council would treat me differently_.”

“She’s right, you are three years old Tilli, already you sound far beyond your years.  I know what it is to grow up too fast, you deserve a childhood.”

“ _She says stop being melon-mellooo-melodramactic_.” Tilli says, in her defence, complicated word for a three-year-old.

“Melodramatic?” Mic asks, Tilli nods.

“ _Your dad did not mean to alienate you after Sonny was born_.” Tilli tells her clearly just repeating the words, Arl looks shocked, Mic looks at her questioningly, she ignores him.

“Well he did, Trick and I raised ourselves.  But that is not even what I mean.”

“ _She says she knows,_ _‘but you have people here to lean on, you are lucky to be alive, do not forget to live._ _’  Whatever that means_.”

“Quite a bit I think.” Micah says seeing Arlie’s reaction to that.

“You think you have the right to tell me how to live my life when you never let me do it?  You have done enough.”

“ _She doesn_ _’t look happy Master_.” Tilli says, “She says, ‘ _You know nothing_.’”

“I know that I was right about her the first time, that’s all I need to know.”

“ _Don_ _’t be a child_.”

“You made me one, you deal with it.”

“ _She says_ _‘Are you seriously annoyed at me for that? You would have died if that had not happened.  You should be grateful_.’”

“Why would I be grateful for you interfering in my final moments? My final decision?”

“ _Because you agreed to something far more important than your promise, you agreed not to lose your capacity to love and you have, overridden by your stubbornness and the hatred you remain ignorant to because you cannot bare to face it.  You are not leading an army anymore Arleia, let the past go, you do not need it anymore_.” Roland, Micah, and Tilli all look surprised at the words Tilli is repeating, Arl is absolutely livid, so much so that they could all feel it in the force.  She hands Tilli to Mic and storms off.

“Are you alright Tilli?” Mic asks the young girl.

“ _Did I do a bad thing_?” She asks in a small voice, he holds her and Roland close.

“No, Arlie has some bad memories from a war she was in and the force was being quite cruel to her because she felt it was the only way to make Arlie understand.  Arl just needs some time to calm down and she will be okay.”

“You should go check on her.” Roland suggests, Mic nods and after leaving them in the care of Master Penn, he goes back to his and Mace’s quarters and finds Mace, Garen, and Obi-Wan sitting at the dining room table making sandwiches.  He knew it was for a party they are throwing Arlie since she neglected her birthday so they were no longer giving her a choice, but it was still a weird visual.

“Arlie?” Micah asks.

“She just stormed into her room and slammed the door.  It was, interesting.” Garen says, that explained their shocked looks and why Shmi was standing at the door to her daughter’s room.

“ARLEIA SKYWALKER FRONT AND CENTRE, NOW.” Micah says in a no-nonsense voice only Garen and Mace had heard before and very, very rarely.

“WHAT, YOU GONNA TELL ME I’M INCAPABLE OF FEELING LOVE AND FULL OF HATRED WHILE JUDGING MY LIFE CHOICES AS WELL?” Arlie yells back followed by a crash of something, Micah looks impatient.

“NO, I AM GOING TO SCOLD YOU FOR ARGUING WITH THE FORCE!” He yells back.

“THE FORCE WAS BEING A TWAT!”

“ARLIE DO NOT _MAKE_ ME COME IN THERE.” Mic demands, there’s a lot of muffled cursing before she comes out looking extremely pissed off and with tear tracks on her cheeks. “I get it okay, she was cruel, but is there a possibility she was also right?”  No one knew it to be possible but somehow Arlie’s glare got more venomous.

“Yes.  Of course.  You are right.  I have no capacity to love which is why I have spent all but ten years sacrificing everything for the people I am incapable of loving.  Been tortured, worked tirelessly into the ground, sat in meetings arguing in favour of a fucking Sith lord because I can’t love people.  My hate for everything so great that I tried to help someone commit murder in order to free them from darkness.  Run a war effort, been sold in slavery several times, helped a slaver stop a slave uprising, come back from the dark side, lived with the Jedi, refrain from beating the stupid troll senseless, am continuing to try my absolute hardest to stop the galaxy from plunging into darkness but you’re right, I can’t feel love, only an unending hatred I am afraid to face and a whole load of stubbornness.” Arlie rants angrily though by the end of it there are tears running down her face.

“I am not saying you cannot love Arlie, all I am saying is that perhaps you are forgetting to feel it.”

“I do feel it, you want to know what I love?  I am a very unfortunate person cursed to love everything.  Because I do, I love every living being, I love everything we are given, I love this galaxy, this universe, and the other.  I love everything because it exists and I remember what it is like to not have that.  But all that love has ever gotten me is pain.  You are wrong Mic, I do feel it, I just wish I didn’t.” She says before going back to her room and slamming the door again.  Mic sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Umm, Mic?” Mace asks confused, Mic turns and sees the others sitting at the table looking quite shocked by the scene they created.

“Long story.  I think a lot of it is her having adult emotions in a ten-year-old brain.  It doesn’t quite compute sometimes and she overloads.  That plus a lack of sleep and meditation.”

“Or maybe she’s traumatised, having a breakdown, and is getting yelled at instead of helped.  She forgets she’s allowed to sometimes, remember?” Garen says calmly walking past his Master and walking into the room he and Arlie share 90% of the time.

 

Later that night Arlie wakes up from being shaken however she senses no danger, opening her eyes she sees Tilli standing in between her bed and Garen’s cot.

“What’s wrong?” She asks immediately, Tilli shakes her head.

“ _Nothing, the force asked me to tell you that you_ _’ve forgotten you aren_ _’t alone but she cannot be the one to remind you, so you have a choice.  You can give one person memories of their life in what you call the other timeline, but they have to agree_.”

“What? How?” Arlie asks barely comprehending what she is hearing despite being wide awake.

“ _You will know_.” Arl knows she is not going to get anymore instruction.  “ _I have to go before they realise I am gone, Roland is keeping watch at the door_.” Tilli whispers, Arl nods and watches the girl walk away.

“Did she just say what I think she said?” Garen asks apparently having woken up, Arl nods, “What are you going to do?” He asks not sure how she is feeling currently.  She had cried until she fell asleep in his arms earlier but seemed better now.

“I am going to go back to sleep.” She says laying back down, but sleep did not come to either of them.

 

Hours later Arlie is teaching Garen Tai Chi in the main area of their quarters.

“Where is the table and couch and armchair?” Micah asks as he walks out of his and Mace’s room.

“On the balcony.” Arlie replies without faltering in her movements.

“Mace, your kid is doing weird shit again.” He says as he walks to the kitchen to make Mace tea.

“Haven’t we covered this Mic?  They are our Padawans not our children.” Mace says from the bedroom before walking out rubbing the sleep from his eye, “Arlie, where is the furniture?” He asks looking around the room.

“On the balcony.” She answers, Garen is trying not to grin as he copies her movements, she seems perfectly at ease.  Mic hands Mace the tea he made, Mace takes a long drink from it despite the temperature and immediately looks more awake, he smiles thankfully at Mic.

“Why?” Mace asks.

“We needed room for Tai Chi.” Garen replies.

“And what is Tai Chi?”

“A way to channel the mind and align it with the body.  It’s like a meditation kata except from Earth.”

“And Earth is?” Mic asks, Arl looks shocked.

“Have I not told you of this before?” She asks, her Masters shake their heads though Arlie knows for certain that Garen knows. “Earth is, well, Earth is overly complicated.” She says shaking her head slightly as she continues her movement.

“Well, we have a council meeting today, they will want to speak with you Arlie about your various projects.” Mace tells her completely sidestepping the Earth issue for now, he has a suspicion it’s got something to do with the other universe she spent time in and knows any explanation will take a long time.

“Good, I must speak with them as well, an opportunity has arisen and we need to decide how to use it together.”

“What opportunity?”

“One that if used correctly could be of great strategic value.  Now this will entail them knowing of my past so be prepared for that.  Also, given the nature of this, I would like to request that Master Dooku, Knight Vos, Master Jinn, Padawan Kenobi, Master Tahl, and Padawan Bant be present.  All heavily involved in the Sith situation, perhaps Healer Terza as well, and Padawan Bellan if she likes.”

“Not Xan?” Garen asks surprised.

“We cannot risk the Sith finding out about any of this, it is an advantage we cannot afford to lose.”

“You know when you go into Master Mode, you can be quite cold.”

“As can all Jedi Masters when they believe the situation calls for logic instead of emotion.  We must be smart and concise in this matter, our purpose must come before our feelings.”

 

Two hours later they are all in the Council Chamber, oddly full with them all there, every bit of wall space taken up.

“Something to tell us you have?” Yoda asks bringing the room to attention immediately.

“Yes, What I am going to say is going to sound completely unbelievable so I implore you, read the force and see my words as truth.  I came from what you would perceive as another timeline, I have lived through these years before though they progressed quite differently because of things I have changed.  I did not tell you before because I first felt I needed to earn your trust.  I hope by now I have, but more importantly, we have an opportunity we cannot pass up and you must have all the information to help me make the decision.”

“What happened in this other timeline that we should know about?” Master Poof asks, looking around the room, Arlie sees many faces looking overwhelmed but none seem all too surprised, good.

“Xanatos did not come back, Qui-Gon died, Sheev Palpatine became supreme chancellor, there was a three-year long war across the galaxy orchestrated by Sidious.  Eventually we lost, so utterly and completely.  The Jedi were hunted down until only Yoda, Obi-Wan, an as of yet unborn Padawan, and Micah remained.  I died, that’s when I was suddenly in the past.”  That earnt the shocked looks she had been expecting.

“Why do I get the feeling you are leaving a lot out?” Qui asks, Arl smiles ruefully.

“Because I am, but that is what you need to know for now.”

“So, when you refused to celebrate your birthday, was that because we did not really know it?” Depa asks, Arl nods keeping her face the same blank expression it had been since she began speaking.  She was standing in the perfect Jedi position, arms crossed in front of her as she stood up straight.

“It was awkward, my supposed ninth birthday was the worst, I decided to cut myself a break this time.”

“Why was last year the worst?” Quin asks earning knowing smiles from Garen, Obi, Dooku, Mace and Micah.

“Because she got old.” Garen says, Arl huffs.

“Just because you are a child does not mean I am old.  I am still far younger than half the people in this room.” She says, Garen and Obi-Wan snicker at her. “I turned fifty.” She explains for the others who seem shocked but satisfied with the answer. “Now if we could get back to the topic at hand, it is rather important.”

“Of course, you mentioned an opportunity.” Ki-Adi reminds everyone in an effort to get the conversation moving forward, Arl nods.

“The force has granted me the option to bring back one person’s memories of this other timeline.  I believe that such an ability, if used correctly, could be of great strategic value in our efforts to stop the Sith.”

“How so?” Mace asks since she had not told them anything more before the meeting.

“We know more about the Sith in that future, we have been fighting them for years. Some people were in a position to know more or different than I do but I am not sure who would be best.  I have narrowed it down, though, to my beliefs on our best options.”

“Would it be safe for whoever is chosen?” Terza asks, Arl turns to face her directly.

“Physically I believe so yes, though that is why I asked you be here.  Mentally is another story, you cannot go through a war like that and come out of it okay, not after the things we saw.” She says with a haunted look in her eye before she shakes it off and allows her expression to fade back to neutrality.  “I have taken that into account when making my list.”

“What role did the Jedi play in this war?” Master Gallia asks after seeing her reaction and recalling observations she has made over the last two and a half years since Arl arrived.

“We led the Grand Army of The Republic.”

“The Republic does not have an army, grand or otherwise.” Dooku says at the same time Shaak Ti says, “Jedi are peacekeepers, not soldiers.”

“We had an army of men who had been cloned from a bounty hunter, they were bred for the war.  And you are correct Master Ti however you must keep in mind that there was a Sith in control of the Republic, we were not given another option.  If It helps, we were not doing terribly, actually we were doing rather well towards the end of it.”

“Then what changed, how did we lose so badly?” Micah asks, Arlie cannot fight back the flinch as she thinks of it.

“Order 66.” She says, “I’m not sure what happened, but the clones were influenced somehow, I am sure of it. Regardless of how or why, they turned on us.  We were completely unprepared, our best general only just survived that and only because he was riding a lizard at the time and the clone missed his shot.   How he did that with a kriffing rocket launcher I’ve no idea, I was preoccupied when I heard the story months later.  Anyway, any Jedi that survived Order 66 died in the following purges.  I need you to understand how bad it was, the temple was assaulted and none were left alive, not even the younglings.”

“Everyday this knowledge you deal with?” Yoda asks looking heartbroken on her behalf, she smiles sadly at him, for once feeling older than even he.

“Believe you me, it is far easier dealing with the knowledge than it was living the actual events.”


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Silence filled the room after Arl stopped speaking, no one wanted to believe it, but they were Jedi, they accepted and began attempting to move on.

“All right, so who do you believe our best options for memory retrieval are and for what reasons?” Depa asks her sister-padawan.

“Well my first thought was Dooku however I am very uncomfortable with that idea, because of some events from that timeline I do not believe it safe even though he would have the most knowledge of the Sith.  Next would be Obi-Wan however we would be facing some serious psychological damage consistent with many war veterans, also he is still a child and I am hesitant to break that.  Then Mace, he worked in intelligence during the war and would have looked closely at the tactics and transmissions of that side of the war.  The biggest downside to that one is that I do not know how directly Palpatine controlled the war, we may end up relying on information that is largely inaccurate.  I would say either Yoda or Garen after that.  Garen spent two years attempting to hunt down Sidious and would be familiar with places he likes to hide, however, he was rather out of it and again, like with Dooku, I am not comfortable calling it safe to do so.  Yoda was really more politically based during the war and completely isolated afterwards so I am not sure how much help he would really be.  He did spend the most time with Palpatine apart from Anakin but he was firmly in his Chancellor façade.” Arlie tells them all, having thought about it a lot in the hours since Tilli told her.

“If Anakin spent the most time with him, why is he not on the list?” Bant asks, “I mean I am not suggesting it, given he is five, I am only curious if there is more to that reasoning?” She elaborates after receiving many disapproving looks.

“Oh, that is easy, he is my little brother and over my dead fucking body will he remember any of that, ever.” She says instantly though not angrily, as she knew Bant was not even remotely saying they should, but she still felt the need to be clear about that.

“Emotional you are being.” Yoda tells her, she sighs in resignation.

“In all honestly.  He is the absolute last person we should be giving memories to, the Sith did to his mind what he did to Xanatos’ or something similar at least.  Only we did not know at the time, no one was there to help him at all and so he…well I am sure you can imagine.” Arl tells them, every single person in the room cringes save for Dooku and Obi-Wan, the only two that she had told the true extent of what happened to.  Garen, Micah, and Mace all knew but not to the same degree, mostly because everything they knew they had learnt through Arlie yelling and ranting about it.

“Out of these options which do you believe to be best?” Adi asks her, Arl does not even hesitate having come to a decision the second she finished laying out her reasons to them.

“Obi-Wan.” The others all deliberate, Qui puts an arm around Obi-Wan’s shoulders protectively.

“He is just a boy.” Tahl says looking horrified.

“Believe me, I know.  I do not wish to see him remember any more than you do, less even, given that I have seen what he will remember, but sometimes sacrifices must be made and I know that the Obi-Wan I knew would be willing to do it.” Arl says, that knowledge being the only thing getting her through this.

“And what about Obi-Wan now?  We can debate all we like but it is useless until we know if he would even be willing.” Terza reminds everyone, the room all turn to Obi who seems to shrink into his Master before flushing and pulling away slightly, Garen, Bant, Bellan, and Arlie exchange knowing looks.  He looks thoughtful, walks over to the window and looks out at the skyline of Coruscant.  He sees a vehicle stopped at lights in the air below them, inside is a little girl whose brother or friend is tugging on her hair, then the adult in the car, presumably one or more of their mother’s, scolds the child.  Obi-Wan can’t risk their lives being sacrificed because of his own fear of a future that never happened, he turns back and nods.

“If you agree it is to be me, I will do it.” He tells them confidently, Arlie thinks she can see the beginnings of the man he will one day become.  The council exchange looks again before Yoda gestures Obi-Wan forward.

“If certain you are, agree to this we do.” He tells the boy, some of the council looks unhappy, actually most of it.  Truthfully, none look happy, but it is the decision they made, Obi-Wan nods again.

“Shall we get this over with then?” Arl asks.

“No use delaying the inevitable.” Obi says walking over to her, she sits and gestures for him to do the same.  Arlie sinks into a light meditation trance before extending it more fully into the force in a way only she and perhaps Yoda are capable of doing, though Qui-Gon gets close thanks to his skills with the Living Force.  With time perhaps he could learn to commune with the force as she does.

 _(Come now, tell me what to do.)_ Arl thinks in her trance, knowing the force will hear.  Following the prompting she feels, Arl places her hands on either side of Obi-Wan’s head, index fingers on the temples and thumbs at the base of his skull.  She thinks of future Obi-Wan and pushes the thought to this Obi’s head, he gasps and passes out, falling forward onto her.

“Obi!” Garen yells running over, Qui-Gon gets there first though and helps Arl to lay the boy down flat.  Terza checks his vitals and judges him as perfectly fine.

“He is not even unconscious, he’s asleep.” She says quietly, a moment later he breathes in quickly and wakes, sitting up immediately.

“Padawan?” Qui asks worriedly, Obi looks at him in shock.

“Master?” He says before seeming to think it over, “No wait, of course you are alive, my apologies this is, quite disorienting.” Obi-Wan tells them pressing a hand to his forehead.  When he removes it, he happens to look straight ahead of him and spots Dooku, he snarls and leaps to his feet drawing his lightsaber.  He force pins Dooku to the wall and points his ignited lightsaber at the man’s throat.

“Obi-Wan no, he’s on our side!” Arlie reminds him, he looks to her, hatred in his eyes.

“I do not care, if this version of him is the only one I can kill then I will take what I can get and enjoy it too.” Obi says pushing his lightsaber closer, scaring the crap out of the rest of the room, they honestly were not sure if he would do it. Dooku, for his part, was attempting to appear as non-threatening as he could, Arl puts a calming hand on Obi’s arm.

“You would not let Anakin do it.” He falters for a moment before taking a deep breath and reigning in his emotions before releasing them into the force.  It looked as though it took a hell of a lot of effort but he releases Dooku and sheathes his lightsaber.  Pinching the bridge of his nose he takes another deep breath.

“I apologise Master Dooku, I have not quite got things straight in my head at the moment and thinking things through, it seems, is a rather complicated venture.” Obi-Wan explains, looking as though he has a headache, before he straightens up and centres himself properly.

“Think nothing of it grand-padawan, I can understand your reaction, Arl has told me a bit of what occurred in the other timeline.” Dooku says looking genuinely regretful, Obi puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Do not feel guilt for actions that were not your own, especially actions that have not even occurred and never will.” He tells Dooku seriously who seems mildly surprised at Obi-Wan’s obvious maturity, but nods gratefully all the same. The other occupants of the room are quite confused by the sudden change of direction but like with Arl, they just roll with it.  Then Obi-Wan suddenly turns to Arlie. “You.” He says unhappily.

“Me?” She asks not sure what he was upset about.

“What the actual fuck were you thinking going off like you did, you could have been killed.  You _were_ killed!” He says grabbing her shoulders and shaking them before hugging her, she returns it in kind.

“Come now Little Obi, give me a little credit, I was not killed.”

“Then why was your body found at the bottom of the building that Vad…that the Sith killed _that idiot_ in, eight months after you left?” Obi asks pointing to Garen who seems a little surprised.

“Hang on what? I jumped off the temple not the building on Alderaan.” She replies confused, she is also very relieved to hear that number, eight months, she finally knew how long it had been, she smiles peacefully for a moment before focusing back on the situation at hand.

“YOU JUMPED OFF A BUILDING?!” Bant yells sounding equal parts terrified and bewildered, also confusing Mace, Mic, and Garen, none of which and known about her final stay in the temple.

“I mean, I just let go of the railing really, but yes.  It was my time.  Or it was supposed to be but I cannot catch a break for the life of me…oh…that was a bad choice of words.”

“THAT WAS THE SINGLE MOST SELFISH THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE! DO YOU KNOW HOW BROKEN MIC WAS AFTER THAT?  Luke couldn’t sleep for days because Mic could not stop projecting his complete and utter despair, the kid had to feel that too.  HE HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE HE KNEW HE WAS DRAWING ATTENTION TO THEM!  God knows what happened once he was alone.” Obi-Wan tells her angrily but with a desperate kind of sadness in his eyes, he needed her to regret it.

“I am sorry Obi-Wan, I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I just didn’t want to watch them go.” Everyone could tell there was a double meaning in her words, that it was more of a reason for her doing it than her regretting it, but Obi seemed too drained now to deal with it.

“Let’s just come up with a plan and try to defeat these Sith, all right?” Mace suggests, his easy acceptance showing the others in the room that he was already aware of his Padawan’s suicidal tendencies, the same went for Micah and Garen.  Obi looked scarily like he may understand where she was coming from.

“No, but we can come up with a plan to defeat the Sith and then do it.” Obi-Wan replies, Yoda looks proud.  “However, you should take something to heart now instead of realising it later.  The Jedi are here to keep peace in the galaxy not hunt down and kill or capture our enemies.  To follow this path there will be times when you must make a decision that will go against the code and likely against your morals.  You must make a choice, to be Jedi, or to stop the Sith.” He says seriously as he stands in front of them, arms clasped behind his back and looking every bit the military general, while his face and aura of total serenity perfectly resemble a Jedi Master.  It was an odd transition from the nervous and frightened Padawan that had been present mere moments previously.

“If we do not stop the Sith, none can be Jedi.” Plo tells them all receiving several nods of encouragement.

“I-I do agree, but I fear I do not have the stomach for it.  I never thought myself a coward but if this is the course we choose to take, and I believe we should, I would wish to resign my place on the council.”  Yarael says surprising everyone, Piell voices his intention to do the same.  Luckily no others follow suit.

“Stop the Sith we must.” Yoda tells them.  Yarael and Even do not seem all that off put to be stepping down and both decide to immediately take their leave.

“Then the first step must be to define stopping them.” Obi-Wan tells them, Arlie internally curses herself, she overlooked so much. “Master Aa, you were attempting to prevent events from unfolding and many you have succeeded, but you were doing it alone.  This process is a very different one and one you know well, do not beat yourself up over not having done it sooner.” Obi tells her.

“You always know just what to say.  But I am not a Master anymore Obi-Wan.”

“You and I both know Arleia, that being a Jedi Master is far more than just a title.  It is a state of being, a way of life, and it is one you continue to uphold and abide by.  You are still a Master so long as you decide to be.”

“Spoken like a true Jedi.” Qui-Gon says proudly, Obi grins at him and sprints at him, enveloping him in a hug.

“I realise I have not left your side in almost forty-eight hours Master, but it also feels as though I have not seen you in forty-one years.” He tells his Master who simply holds him close, delighted his Padawan still seems to be himself, even if he is also more now.

“Forty-one years?” Arl asks confused, Obi looks at her sadly.

“This may be hard for you to accept Arlie, but the galaxy does continue without Arleia Skywalker around.” He responds dryly earning a tug on his padawan braid from his Master.

“Glad to see you have not lost your sense of humour Little Obi.  I suppose I assumed too much in thinking you would get the memories only of the time until I left.” She replies, “A foolish oversight on my part I admit, so why stop at sixty-one?”

“That is when I became one with the force.”

“You mean you died?” Garen asks looking upset at the idea, he had gotten used to Arlie having died, though he tried not to think about it, but now Obi too?

“I died when I was fifty-seven actually but I had a young man to look over.  When he fulfilled his destiny and my Padawan joined me, I allowed myself to be released into the force.”

“What happened?” Arl asks wanting to know how things ended.

“Anakin killed Palpatine but died in the process, he saved Luke though.  Luke and Leia met, also Leia got herself an ex-bounty hunter.  I try not to think about it.” He says cringing at the last part, Garen chuckles, recognising Leia to be Arl’s niece.

“Anakin did? Not, not him?” Arl asks remembering Obi’s earlier reluctance to say the name.

“Anakin did.” Arl smiles peacefully at that. “Arl, about what happened after Order 66, I should have listened to you.  I betrayed my Padawan and…”

“Do not even finish that sentence young man.” Arlie says despite Obi-Wan now being older than her, in some ways he would always be her little brother even though he was supposed to be the older one anyway. “He had just slaughtered everyone in the temple and I found him standing over a pile of-of, I let him leave because I was weak and the galaxy paid for my mistake.  You and Yoda, you did the right thing, you did what I should have done.  However, if you _ever_ knock me out again, I will cut your dick off and feed it to you, are we clear?” She asks pointing the unlit hilt of her lightsaber at his throat threateningly.  They both knew she would not light it, but somehow it was still very intimidating.  Every being with external genitalia in the room seemed to look _very_ uncomfortable after that, a fact that made Depa, Adi, and Shaak exchange amused glances.

“Yes ma’am.” He replies, swallowing harshly, she brushes off his shoulders.

“Good.”

“There is only one Sith that is truly a threat, Wrath.  If we can defeat him, then all that is left is a traumatized old man and an undertrained apprentice whom I will personally put in a grave should he ever come near me.” Obi tells them all getting back on topic.

“Obi-Wan.” Qui-Gon says disapprovingly.

“Ben, you need to stop letting your feelings override your logic every time Maul is even mentioned.” Arl says tiredly as though they’ve had the conversation many times and she knows exactly how it will go.

“Says the girl who hit Yoda in the head with his own gimmer stick how many times?” Everyone seems surprised except Garen, the only one who knew, since Arlie and Yoda get along well and agree on most everything in this timeline.

“Not nearly enough.  But the only time I lost control is when I fought him to protect our brother.  You on the other hand, have a history of allowing your anger to get the better of you.  You are the picture perfect Jedi, or were, in every way.  Then Maul would turn up and you were an anger-filled fourteen-year-old Padawan again.”

“No one is the perfect Jedi Arlie.” Mace admonishes, Arl shakes her head.

“No trust me, he was.”

“With all due respect Master, there were many brilliant and talented Jedi in the other timeline, yourself included.  I was and am no better than everyone else trying to do the right thing by others.” Obi replies tiredly, obviously sick of hearing himself described in such a way.

“See what you mean I do.” Yoda tells Arlie who nods at him, Obi-Wan seems to give up on life despite not changing his expression.  It was a fondly exasperated sort of aura, though, so Arl was not worried.

“We are digressing again.”

“Yes, so highlights, Obi-Wan is not to go near Maul, we must decide what we wish to do with the Sith, and we must figure out how to extract Wrath from Sheev.” Mace recounts.

“And find him to begin with.” Mic adds.

“We should kill them.  They are Sith, the definition of Evil.” Saesee tells the group.

“If I may, the Sith are not inherently evil, this particular one may be, but do not presume to understand the inner workings of the Sith.  Having studied them for so long I can tell you with certainty, there is a lot more to it than killing Jedi and causing chaos.  We cannot decide they are all evil simply because of the actions of a few.” Dooku says, Arlie and Qui-Gon being the only ones able to see how nervous he was to say it at all.

“Arl, if you go on another of your rants, I swear to every god in creation, I will tell you know who about you know what.” Obi warns, she holds her hands up in surrender.

“Now now, no need to be hasty, I was not even going to open my mouth to say ‘he is very right and should you decide to kill them it should be for a better reason than ‘because Sith.’” Obi rolls his eyes at her.

“Sith or no Sith, you said it yourself Dooku, Wrath is evil.” Mace points out surprising quite a few people but not Arl or Obi-Wan.

“How are neither of you surprised by that?” Garen all but demands as he points an accusatory finger at his Master.

“Winni can be kind of…” Arl begins not sure how to say what she wants to delicately.

“Bloodthirsty.” Obi finishes for her, she nods.

“I was going to say violently efficient, but yes, I suppose that is also accurate.”

“Well, it may be a surprise but it could prove useful.  However, I say we arrest and imprison him.” Micah tells them.

“For what Mic?” Tahl asks, he opens his mouth but closes it again, he could not really think of anything Wrath had done yet that broke the Republic Laws.

“Non-consensual invasion of a sentient mind and the forceful taking of a sentient being’s free will.” Obi offers, “We got a Sith on that before.  I mean he escaped but the charges stuck.  If only we could have proven his identity.” He tells them.

“Child abuse.” Dooku adds, Arl snaps her fingers approvingly at him and nods her head.

“Impersonating a government official, since technically Sheev Palpatine is the Senator of Naboo not his father.” Bellan suggests shyly.

“That could work, also possibly possession of a body.  That document said it had been outlawed, it is quite possible there is a law against it somewhere in Republic history.” Bant adds.

“Depending on how long this takes and what he does, it is very possible we can add treason to the charges.  Naboo.” Obi-Wan explains to Arl who nods.

“On that note, we can add illegal occupation of a planet and the enslavement of its people.” Arl says.

“If we can prove the possession then forging of a signature on legal documents and three counts of kidnapping.” Mace adds.

“Murder.” Garen mentions.

“The obvious answer that we somehow did not mention, yes.  Also, if we can link him to the bombings then already there is terrorism and murder, destruction of property.  Plus, attempted murder in both direct and indirect fashion since Xanatos tried to kill you both while being influenced but also while actually possessed.” Depa tells them.

“Given the interest he shows in Arl, we could probably swing a stalking charge.” Kit adds. “We will arrest him when we find him, but we are not judges nor a jury, so we cannot handle the punishment of individuals unless it is decided they are under our jurisdiction.”

“He is a Sith, by the laws of the Republic that makes him under our jurisdiction.” Ki-Adi informs him. “I also say arrest though.  We can put him in a holding cell in the temple, one that will actually hold him, while we decide what to do with him.  Until then we should focus on finding proof.” Everyone, even Mace and Saesee, agrees.

“The cells in this temple are a joke, way too easy to get out of, they need to be updated if you wish to take that route.” Arl informs them.

“And I suppose you are the only one who can do that?” Ki asks her, she smiles and shakes her head.

“If anyone is used to making sure people stay in those damned things, it’s Obi.” She says thinking of Anakin’s troubling teenaged years. “Besides, I have no wish to go back down there.”

“Someone should inform the Chancellor, build a repour with him, if we can get the law on our side then this will all be easier.” Obi-Wan tells them successfully changing the subject, a few seem surprised by Obi clearly suggesting they manipulate someone with friendship. But, war changes a person’s morality, “It is still Valorum yes?” Qui-Gon nods, “Good, he was a good man.” Obi says looking rather desolate again, “Masters, may I request that we continue this tomorrow?  I would appreciate the chance to meditate.”

“A good idea that is, follow his example we all should.” Yoda says, Arl smiles knowing him well enough to recognise he did not just mean with meditation.

Obi-Wan immediately departs, followed closely by his Master wanting to watch over him.

“That went both better and worse than I was expecting.” Mace admits, everyone seems to agree.

“Yes, I should have requested Dooku wait outside until he was a little more with it.  Those first few days for me were very…off putting and I was not anywhere near anyone.” Arl tells them cringing slightly.

“How was it when you arrived here?” Garen asks before his eyes widen, “Xan was the first one you saw.” Everyone seemed to realise the seriousness of that.

“He did not come back last time, did he?” Tahl asks, thinking she said it before but wanting to double check, Arl shakes her head.

“No, I manipulated that situation quite closely to prevent that, opened up a great many things that I did not know last time.”

“What is the problem with Dooku?” Shaak asks, though she is worried she can guess. Arlie looked a little empty for a moment, it was that that really solidified the fact that this girl in front of them had lived a life, lived a war, and had no real help afterwards.  Thrust back to help save everyone again and been totally alone.  The effect was broken when she snapped back slightly and look at Shaak to answer her question, Dooku appeared slightly nervous, unsure what she would say.

“In the other timeline, Wrath somehow manipulated Dooku, he started acting paranoid and secretive, he eventually led the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the other half of the war.”

“Did he, I mean, was he a Sith?” Adi asks awkwardly not looking at Dooku, it was not that she thought he was now, she trusted him.  It was more she did not know if he would be offended at the question.

“No, he was not a Sith.” Arl says, the unsaid ‘he is one’ only heard by Qui, Dooku and herself. “He became Sidious’ apprentice but they were not being Sith.  To be a Sith you have to follow the code, but there is more to it, just like there is with Jedi, I do not believe they made that criteria.”

“Do not be pedantic Arl.” Mic requests with a tired sigh as Mace runs his hands over his face, Mic raises an amused eyebrow at him and he quietly curses himself for the slip.

“Sith or no, he did turn against the Jedi? That is why Obi-Wan is angry with him?” Depa asks slightly frustrated with her sister-padawan before she releases the emotion into the force, Arl could not help but wonder if the force could feel that, it was a question to ask Tilli.

“He did not turn against the Jedi.  He-he tried, he tried to tell us, to warn us.  I did not hear him in time and whatever Sidious did to get hold of him grew stronger until there was nothing left Dooku could do but follow his orders.  If you are going to accuse someone of betraying their family, at least be sure it was a choice.”

“Arlie, you know that is not what she meant.” Quin says standing beside her and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, she sighs.

“Too many cases of true betrayal I suppose.  But no, I do not believe that to be the reason Obi is angry at him.  He spent 30% of the war sassing the man.”

“What did he do with the other 70%?” Terza asks looking slightly amused, it was a serious situation but no one could really picture the Obi that they knew sassing the enemy, and yet it fit so well.

“Well, 20% of it was sassing General Grievous, 35% sassing a dark acolyte he had quite a few run-ins with, and 10% was miscellaneous sassing of whoever was around.”

“That is a lot of sassing.” Bant says with a smile.

“He’s a very sassy man.” Arl replies, as though she were sharing a secret, making the other girl chuckle.

“What was the last 5%?” Plo asks looking like he thinks he may regret asking.

“Lecturing his Padawan and eventual former Padawan when he acted like a reckless idiot.”

“Why do I feel like you did a lot of that too?” Mic asks.

“Far too much, little shit.” Arl says sounding fond but very annoyed.

“Speak of your colleagues that way you should not.” Yoda tells her with a disapproving look, she laughs.

“I should explain, it was Anakin.” Everyone seems to understand now.

“But he is such a well-behaved boy.” Depa says though she does not seem surprised, Arl looks a little uncomfortable.

“He had a very different life.”

“Is Obi-Wan going to be okay?” Garen asks in a small voice, Arl walks over without hesitation and puts her hands on his shoulders, slightly stretching to reach them.  He was a fifteen-year-old boy, nearly sixteen and she was a ten-year-old girl, there is quite a bit of height difference.

“He is surrounded by his family, he will be okay.” She says with a reassuring smile.

“You said that before, family, Jedi do not really have kin, it is attachment.” Ki-Adi tells her, she smiles at him, a look of slight pity before she walks to the centre of the room to address everyone.

“Someone very wise once told me that everyone in this temple was kin, that they loved everyone in this temple and I must say I agree with him.  If we have no kin, no care, no attachment, then what do we have to fight for? To protect?  Attachment is at the very nature of who we are whether you admit it or not.  We are told to release our feelings yet have compassion, my brother once said he would define compassion as unconditional love.  So yes, the Jedi do have family, we have family in each other, it is a family that once you have, you have it for life and beyond.”  Arlie tells them with the serenity of a Jedi Master, before she bows, “Masters.” And leaves the room to allow them to ponder her words.

“Two replacements on the council we require, look far we need not.” Yoda says closing his eyes and feeling the peace in the force, a peace he has not felt in a long time.

“You agree with her?” Mundi asks in surprise.

“Mmm, my words saying she was.” Yoda tells them honestly before smiling at them and leaving as well.

“Can no one leave this room without making a dramatic exit?” Terza says incredulously before walking out as well.

“She says before doing the same.” Bellan mutters with a fond smile before following after her Master.

 

Qui-Gon arrives back at his quarters and sees Obi-Wan wandering around the room touching everything with a kind of reverence saved for the dead.

 _“Qui-Gon died”_ Arlie had said, Qui felt it important to keep this in mind when speaking to his Padawan.

“Are you your future self as Arlie is?  Or is it different for you?” Qui asks curiously.

“Arlie did not say everything.  The truth is she never grew up here, so for her it is simply more life to live.  I grew up here, I _am_ growing up here.  I remember both but I did not just continue on to here as she did, my memories were brought back rather unnaturally.  So, although I remember that other life, it is not really me that lived it.  No, I am not that version of me, I merely have his memories.  I am still your Padawan, I am still me.” Obi-Wan replies honestly, “It is difficult right now to separate my life and his in my mind because everything is sort of jumbled.  Sleep and meditation will help, but mostly it is just time, time to sort through it, to reground myself in this reality.”

“Know that I am here for you, whatever you need Padawan.” Qui-Gon tells him, Obi smiles gratefully.

“I am sorry I tried to kill your former Master.” Obi says with only a slight hint of distaste in his tone.

“You really do not like him much, do you?”

“I do not like the man he became in the other timeline.  My sister’s influence on him has changed him a great deal but I can still remember before that, when he was exactly the same as I remember him being in the other life.  It sets me on edge, however Arl trusts him around Anakin, that is all the information I need.”

“Arl is your sister?” Qui asks confused.

“Step-sister technically, and I suppose not yet.  But Arlie told me the truth before this, she told me a lot about the other timeline including our parents getting married, she also told me that, to her, I had been her brother long before that, and that I always would be.  So yes, she is my sister.” Obi says smiling, Qui nods his head, understanding, as he thinks of Tahl.

“Obi-Wan, do you…I mean, do you hate?” Qui asks, Obi-Wan freezes his exploration of their quarters before continuing.

“If you are asking if I am fallen, I…well, I suppose it would depend on your definition.” Obi admits with a rueful smile.  “I have not been a Jedi in a very long time.” He says sadly, pain shining in his eyes, “I no longer use either side of the force, there was an incident and it was just safer that way.”

“Will you be able to again?”

“With you by my side Master, I can do anything.” He replies with a wide smile, oh so reminiscent of his padawan that Qui truly believed things would be okay.

“I was not by the way, asking if you are fallen I mean.  I merely wished to know the extent of your feelings about Sith.  For future dealings with them.” Qui explains, Obi looks at him in confusion.

“Tell me why you really wish to know.” Obi requests though it was really more of a demand, “I interrogated many people during the war Qui-Gon, I can tell lie from truth.” He tells him before thinking things over and relaxing his posture, “Well, technically _he_ did, but I’ve retained that ability it seems.”

“You need a different name to refer to other Obi-Wan as. It will help keep it straight in your head and make it easier for everyone when speaking about it.”

“People called him Ben.” Obi suggests, Qui nods encouragingly, “All right well, Ben interrogated people a lot.”

“I am concerned how you may react to Xanatos.” He tells him, Obi can sense the half-truth and raises his eyebrow however Qui-Gon offers no more.

“I hate Wrath, really and truly hate him.  But I would not ever blame a victim of mind invasion.  I know my brother-padawan well Master, I realise I reacted badly to Dooku, but at that point all I could see was Darth Tyranus.” Obi says spitting out the name.  “I do not hate him, but I have a very severe dislike of him, he killed Xanatos.”

“I was under the impression that Xanatos succeeded in jumping into the acid in the other timeline.” Qui says flinching at both the idea of Xanatos killing himself and also Obi’s anger at Dooku’s name.

“No, I lied and told everyone he did, he went underground.  Helped Arl, Anakin and I, and our parents from the sidelines when he could.  He disappeared entirely when the war started, we knew no more until Dooku told Arl he had killed him.”

“All right.” Qui-Gon says doing his best to hide the pain he feels, knowing that if he ever had a chance of his Padawan accepting him for who he truly was, these memories had robbed him of it.

“Honestly, I do not hate Dooku so much as what he represents. When he was killed, well when she found out, Arlie told us we had just lost the war.  I did not understand what she meant then, but somehow, I believe she knew.  Knew what that act meant for Anakin, knew what he would become. I suppose, despite it being Wrath’s fault entirely, I associated Dooku with Anakin’s fall as much as Sidious himself.” Obi-Wan tells his Master who nods thoughtfully.

“I shall not pretend to understand what you have gone through padawan mine, but my Master would never harm you, nor Anakin.” Obi smiles in a way that shows he does not quite believe it, but is willing to accept it for now.

“Would you meditate with me Master?” Obi requests, Qui nods taking solace in the fact that his padawan did not yet know of his true nature and did not hate him.  “Master, over the next few days I may need your guidance to avoid getting lost in…Ben’s old life.”

“I will be there to do so, for however long you need me, I’ll be there.” Obi-Wan smiles hearing the truth ringing in the force and believes, maybe, with his Master by his side, everything will work out in the end.  Later that night Obi-Wan decides he owes his Master the truth seeing as it will likely come out sooner rather than later anyway, so he tells him.  About his father, his mother, his siblings, his Uncle, everything about his biological family.  Qui-Gon feels guilty when he finds out, knowing that he knew more of it than Obi thought, though he had not known it was Obi-Wan’s family.  Qui-Gon merely reminds him that he made his own choices and his family does not define the man he becomes, only he can, and that Qui-Gon would be with him through it all.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Neither Obi-Wan nor Qui-Gon slept particularly well that night and so were up and eating breakfast by 5th hour, it was then that Obi-Wan realised something.

“Why aren’t you angry with me?” He asks as they eat.

“Have you done something worthy of my anger?” Qui-Gon asks looking rather confused, he did not exactly anger easily and knew of no mischief that his Padawan had been up to.

“I did not tell you about my father, or Uncle, or that I was adopted. In fact, I actively lied about it, though I suppose less so than in the other timeline.”

“Obi-Wan, I do not appreciate that you lied to me, or hid something from me.  However, I trust you implicitly and truly believe you had your reasons for doing so.  It is not as though I asked specifically about your time before you joined the Jedi.”

“I suppose we do not know that much about each other really.” Qui-Gon looks thoughtful at that, realising it to be true and knowing he is the reason. “That is not the only reason though, is it?”

“No, it is not.  I have hidden something from you as well and so am in no position to be upset with you for doing the same.  Having raised a Padawan yourself, or well, remembering Ben do it, I am sure you know that there are sometimes things you just do not tell your Padawan, this was one of those things.  You simply did not need to know, had that been all of it I would not have felt so guilty.  Honestly though, it does affect you somewhat, yet I still find myself unable to tell you.”

“Unable to or do you simply not wish to tell me?” Qui flinches.

“Both I suppose, mainly the latter.  The truth is I am afraid of your reaction.”  Obi-Wan reaches across the table and covers Qui-Gon’s hand with his own.

“Master, there is very little you could do to make me think less of you.  So, unless you have secretly joined the Sith, you need not fear my reaction.  Whatever it is, tell me when you are ready.” Obi-Wan says with a reassuring smile.  Qui-Gon very carefully puts a calm smile on his face and hides the hurt his words caused.

“Honestly, I thought as much.” Obi-Wan’s comm beeps before he can respond to that.

“What the Kriff is Garen doing up at this hour?” Obi asks as he answers.

“Language padawan!” Qui admonishes.

“Sorry Master.  Garen, good morning.”

“Oh good you’re awake, and swearing, odd.  Okay, you knew Arl before she learnt to eat whatever is put in front of her without complaint, right?” Garen asks hopefully, Obi rolls his eyes.

“G, she was born a slave.” Obi reminds the man that he recalled being another version of his best friend, only Bant was more his best friend in this timeline.  It was rather confusing but it helped Obi separate Ben’s life from his own.

“Right, I did not think of that, okay but if I were making her breakfast before talking to her about something she probably does not want to talk about, any idea what I should make?”

“Beside bourbon?” Obi asks jokingly, Qui-Gon spits out his tea.

“I never pictured Arl a heavy drinker.” Qui says while coughing.

“She’s not, but that doesn’t mean it would not help his chances.  Look bring an entire pot of tea, make some pancakes, and somehow bring up Anakin beforehand.” Obi-Wan tells his friend.

“Thank you! I shall let you go back to swearing now, real quick though, pancakes are those flat things Arl taught Mace to cook?”

“Yes, only they are not supposed to be burnt, just flip it when it bubbles and then give it maybe a minute on the other side.” Obi-Wan says having learnt that lesson the hard way.

 

Arlie wakes up to the smell of melted butter and tea, she opens her eyes and sees her brother-padawan holding a tray of food beside her.

“Breakfast in bed?” He offers, she smiles and moves over making room for him to join her on the bed.

“What’s the occasion?” She asks, Garen thinks it says a lot about how she’s grown that she did not automatically think he’d broken something like she would have a year ago.

“Well, for one, your birthday.  Also, you are going to be dealing with a hyperactive six-year-old soon.  Anakin’s initiate test is later today remember?  We all know he’ll pass and run around like a crazy person excitedly for a few hours.” Arl smiles fondly and nods in agreement, Garen vaguely feels bad for manipulating her but he did make her happy so perhaps it is worth it, that brings him back to his true intention here. “Hey Arl.”

“Yes Garen?” She asks looking amused, ‘she so has me figured out.’ he thinks.

“Yesterday, Obi-Wan said you jumped off the building that Vader killed me in.” Garen says, Arl tenses slightly at the memory but nods for him to continue, “Well, you, uh…”

“Spit it out, idiot.” Arl tells him with the same amused look, the poor boy was beetroot red and Arl could not work out what the hell he was trying to say.

“You told us before that you watched him kill the love of your life and it drove you off the building.” Garen says in one go, Arl sighs but remains calm, she was an adult(ish), she would deal with the situation as one.

“Okay firstly, I jumped off the temple not that building, and it was about eight months after, and more importantly Garen, it was a different life.  Our relationship was complicated from the day you and Xan met.”

“So, I wasn’t, I mean, we weren’t…” he says awkwardly, she resists the urge to roll her eyes.

“We were not together.  Something almost happened between us once but…the war got in the way, you fell, stuff happened.  After the war I tried to find you, when I did Vader killed you.  I did love you very much, but like I said, it was a different life.”

“So, you don’t, like, love me like that?” Garen asks, Arl thinks her answer over.

“Garen you are sixteen, I am both fifty and ten.  Either way, I decided a while ago that we were both far too young for me to even have to think about it yet.  My feelings for you in the other timeline, I left behind there for him.  He was the one I loved, you are a different you.  One day, I may develop those feelings for you, it is quite likely given it has happened before, but circumstances are vastly different.  Either way, I made a choice to deal with that particular situation when I grew up again, it would be ridiculous to think about it now.” Arl tells him, he looks calmer as he realises she is right.

“Okay, cool.  You know I love you though, right?  Regardless of anything else you are my best friend and my kin, no matter what form the last one eventually takes.” Garen tells her, she smiles widely.

“I know Garen, and I you.”

“Hey, one more thing, Obi-Wan called me ‘G’ earlier, and I think you’ve called me that in the past…is that something from the other timeline?” Arl laughs and nods as the two share the pancakes and tea in front of them.

“Yes, it was the nickname I gave other you, mainly because you hated it.  It was revenge for him telling everyone I was raised by pirates.” She says, he laughs too.

“Why don’t we do this?  Separate it?  Like, if you were to talk about things that happened before we met with people I don’t know, or if I were to do the same.  Treat the people from the other timeline as completely different people, ‘G’ be your old friend that I’ve never met, and just the time you lived before you met us.  One life.” Garen suggests, Arl smiles warmly.

“One life, I like the sound of that.”

 

A few hours later found all of them in the conference room that was once converted into the war room.

“Wow, never really thought I’d see this place again.”  Arlie says as she walks in, albeit hesitantly.  (Different life, different room.  Different life, different room.)  She repeats to herself like a mantra.

“It’s trippy, right?” Obi says from his seat, “You think that’s bad?  Check out the seats people chose.” Arl looks around and spots it after a moment before laughing.

“What about the seats?” Ki-Adi asks confusion clear on his face.

“After the war started, this room was converted into a war room that the troll and I used to run the war.  Every person in here that was on the council is sitting in the same seats they did in the war.” Arl says calming herself.

“Who was on the council during the war?” Plo asks curiously, Arl looks to Obi who shrugs uncaring.

“Well it changed a bit over the years, but throughout the war there was…Depa, Adi, yourself, Eeth, Ki-Adi, Even, Yarael, Saesee, Shaak, Winni, Kit, Yoda, Mic, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and myself.”

“I am afraid to ask but, you’ve mentioned to us before that during the war, many Jedi fell.  How many of the people in this room fell during the war?” Mace asks looking as though he’d rather not, she finally sits down as she ponders the question.

“Well, Qui-Gon was dead, Terza died early in the war as did Bant, and Dooku obviously did.  Beyond that only five and a half did not.” Arl tells them.

“Well that’s bad but not too…wait…did you say did _not_?”  Eeth asks, Arl nods with a grimace.

“How can you have a half?”

“Well it got way too close for comfort but they did not truly fall.  Breakdown quite severely yes, but not quite falling.”

“Who did not?” Dooku asks, Obi-Wan narrows his eyes for a moment before seeming to catch himself and stop.

“Tahl, Bellan, Quin, Obi, and Myself.  Yoda was the half.”  Everyone looks around surprised and horrified.

“I wish I wasn’t asking this but, how much damage did we do?”  Plo asks nervously.

“Well, very little.  Most of the people in the room fell but remembered whose side they were on, only three turned against us when they fell.  Of those three only two actually harmed people.  Of those two only one did not come back to our side.”  Obi-Wan tells them.

“So, one of us in this room, fell, harmed people, and stayed on the dark side?  That’s what you are telling us?” Depa asks disbelievingly, “I am sorry, I do believe you, it is just hard to accept.”

“If it helps, it was not one of the council.” Garen tells them, they look surprised at him confused on how he would know, until they noticed Dooku, Mic, and Mace also not looking surprised and realise Arl must have told them already.

“Who?” Adi asks.

“Why do you wish to know?” Arl retorts defensively.

“I suppose we do not need to, after all, we are not truly talking about the people in this room.” Depa says, Arl looks gratefully at her.  “I have to admit, I was a little surprised to hear neither you nor Obi fell.” She admits hesitantly unsure how they would react, to her surprise they both burst out laughing.

“Sorry.” Arl says after they manage to calm themselves, mostly. “It’s just, he asked who fell during the war. Wait, when did you fall?” Arl asks Obi-Wan.

“After you died, not because of.” He says quickly before she can blame herself.  “I did a stupid thing and paid the price.  You?”

“After watching Vader kill Garen.” She says noticing Obi flinch at the name, “Sorry.  Anyway, I kind of lost it.”

“Well yeah, you jumped off a building.” Bant says, Arl stutters a laugh.

“That was a while after, but seriously you have the most amazing ability to be completely unfazed by everything.”

“Is that why I didn’t fall before I died?”

“I don’t know, the war had only been raging for three months before you died, you may well have later had you survived the campaign.” Arl says her voice sounding choked of grief, Garen, who is seated beside her, grabs her hand.  She closes her eyes for a minutes reigning it in.  She sees Obi-Wan with his face in Qui-Gon’s shoulder, his own shoulders shaking tellingly. “During the war, a lot of things happened, but war continued on.”

“You have never had a chance to deal with it.” Terza realises looking disturbed by that.  “Will both of you consent to getting an evaluation from a mind healer?”

“Hell fucking no.” Obi-Wan growls.

“Language padawan.” Qui-Gon says for the second time that day, Arl cannot stop the amused smile at that.

“If they are informed of what has happened, I will.  So long as it is my decision whether nor not I actively go to see one afterwards.”

“I can live with that, I really just want to know the kind of…damage…we are dealing with here.” Terza says realising too late how callous she is being, then realises the people in front of her lived through a war and probably care very little for beating around the bush. “Obi-Wan, I could make it an order but I would rather you go willingly.”

“You can order me all you like, I am still not going.” He says crossing his arms and looking completely at peace, speaking as though he were commenting on the weather.

“I’ll buy you Corellian Brandy if you sit through a single evaluation.” Arl offers earning disapproving looks from others.

“Can I drink it before the session?” Obi-Wan asks, Arl looks to be considering it.

“No!” Bellan says incredulously momentarily forgetting her shyness.  She then shrinks in on herself before remembering something. “I am doing a partial training on mind-healing.  I am not qualified or an expert but would you at least sit through an unofficial evaluation with me?” She requests, Obi-Wan looks at her as she widens her eyes hopefully.

“Dammit.” He mutters.

“Thank you.” Bellan says smiling widely.

“Well, I know your skills so I approve of this.” Terza says mainly to assure the others in the room that her padawan can do this successfully.

“Brilliant now, we need to better coordinate our efforts.  We must all be updated on how things are progressing as well.  Aa, if you wish I can take over your mental shielding instruction which will leave you more time for your defence classes. You should consider merging the initiates and padawans in with the knights.  If they are at the same level as you claim it seems like a waste of valuable time doing them separately. I do believe you should continue with Xanatos’ private shielding lessons partly because you work well with him and also so that I refrain from breaking his face repeatedly.  Leave the research to Bant, Tahl, and Dooku unless they request help.  Mace, Master Fisto, and Master Yoda are going to create plans for capturing Sidious/Wrath for all of the locations I give you on places he may run to should he grow suspicious.  Believe me when I say that will be very important.  Master Qui-Gon and I will be designing a cell to hold him, Arl in your free time we could use your input on that.  Healer Terza, if you have time it would be useful for you and your padawan to create a sedative or toxin that will shut down his brain enough to prevent him from…de-possessing it. Everyone else here needs to be working different angles to find proof of his wrong doings.” Obi tells them all, they seem surprised at the unsubtle conversation change but none disagree. “I am missing something, what am I missing?”

“The possibility that they already know about Arlie.” Quinlan suggests, the room looks at him in confusion, well, not the actual room, but it’s occupants do. “Even not counting what Xanatos knows, we still do not know what happened in Telos IV.” Dooku and Arlie both visibly flinch at the mention of it, Arl runs her hands over her scarred arms.

“There was evidence of torture.” Terza admits.

“Yes, and I do not believe Arl had been tortured prior to then.” Obi-Wan admits, “That I knew of…” He says at Terza’s contemplative look at Arl who shies away from it.

“There may have been a thing that happened that you do not know of that…well…I did not give them what they wanted but believe me when I say, I cracked like a nut in the paws of a starving squirrel.  That being said, I have spoken with Wrath since Telos IV and he gave no indication of knowing anything more than he already did.  He’s not especially subtle.  How did you…?”  Arl asks, looking at the senior Healer questioningly, Terza purses her lips.

“I thought you were going to talk to her.” She comments looking at Mace unhappily, he awkwardly scratches the back of his neck, Arl raises an eyebrow.

“We should talk about this later Arlie.” She seems suspicious, “Trust me?” Her eyes widen fractionally, though he’s unsure why.  She nods her consent.

“You’ve also missed the part where they need to know everything that Wrath has done to find proof of it.” Micah says looking between Mace and Obi, changing the subject entirely, the two look at each other and both nod.

“Sheev Palpatine is my father.” Obi tells the room.

“What?” Dooku whispers to Arl surprised.

“You didn’t know?” Arl asks him quietly, he shakes his head.

“He is also my half-brother.” Mace adds.

“That one I knew.” Dooku says feeling marginally better.

“Wrath possessed my father and killed my mother in front of me.  He then put my two siblings and I up for adoption.” Obi continues, Arlie can feel Dooku’s rage growing and sees Qui-Gon edge closer to Dooku.

“Master, you must calm yourself.” Qui tells him quietly, Dooku takes a deep breath.

“I killed my Master to save Sheev and instead I made things worse for him.” Dooku whispers quietly, his voice thick with grief.

“I cannot begin to understand how much that must suck but you really need to get yourself under control Dooku.  This is not the time nor the place for this.” Arlie reminds him.

“Yes, thank you Arleia.” He snaps quietly glad everyone was listening to Obi-Wan talking. He uses the opportunity to centre himself as best he can, knowing he will have to leave the temple soon, he has been grounded too long.

“You led them.” Arlie says suddenly looking at Dooku as pieces fit together in her mind.

“I what?” Dooku asks confused.

“You led them but you did not make them follow, not in the beginning.  You had supporters, many in fact.  Too many for it to have started then.  Too many droids all ready to fight for it to have been as quickly deteriorating as we believed.  It’s fourteen years before the beginning of the clone wars, but how long would it have taken to set up.  It may not have been all them, the Republic was corrupt long before Sidious, so did he start this or simply encourage it, and when, how.  I need more, I can’t blasted think.  Only so much processing power a ten-year-old brain can have, this is another reason Obi was a good idea, he’s older.  But no because there had to be setup, but where did it start?  The home planet perhaps?  The stronghold?  How did you do it though…” Arlie mutters to herself not noticing when people quietened and began listening to her.

“Arl?” Mace asks, she spins and looks at him.

“You, I spoke to you, and then…wait…Obi, when did Dooku leave the order?” Arl asks.

“Dooku left before the war?” Qui says surprised, Dooku shushes him.

“Let her think.”

“Um, that was around the same time you started dating…” Obi begins saying but Arl cuts him off.

“No need to get into that kriffing fiasco, that would have made me twenty-eight?”

“Or eighteen, depends on your definition but yes.”  Most of the room looks confused by that statement but run with it for now.

“So, eight years from now, but there were signs, he was in trouble, I knew that, I mentioned it.  But not to you.” Arl says in dismay, “Because your Master was avoiding me.” Dooku shushes Qui-Gon before he even speaks this time.  “Because it did not start when I thought it did, either theory, when his father’s lawyer contacted him.  That was when he warned me to keep Anakin away from Palpatine.” Arl says.

“And why the fuck didn’t you listen?” Obi asks still angry about that.

“Oh shut up you knew he was a murderer and you let your padawan and little brother near him as well.  Now more importantly, that means it was not for another three years.”

“What isn’t?” Mace asks voicing everyone’s thoughts.

“The start of the war we did not know we should have been fighting.  Three years from now, at most, Wrath contacts you Dooku.  I am not sure what he says but you joined him.  Everything was very different, but to get you to join him he had to have given you a damn good reason, or…” Arlie begins.

“He gave me no choice.  Or at least, no good choice.” Dooku finishes.

“Exactly, we should work out what that is but more importantly, it is very possible that he has been using his senate seat and the influence it brings, avenues it opens, to begin sowing the seeds of destruction throughout the Republic.”

“Arlie are you suggesting that the clone wars may happen regardless of whether or not we stop Wrath?” Obi asks, Arl notices his hands balled into fists with a slight tremor.

“Under a different figure head, unless he manages to sway Dooku again, unlikely especially if we can work out what he had on him.  But even if we very publicly discredited Sheev, Wrath is not so stupid as to allow anyone to realise who has been pulling their strings, we very nearly didn’t.  We did not realise until a month or so before the war started.”

“And when she says we, she does not mean me because she left me out of it.” Obi says sounding irritated.

“I wanted to keep Ani out of it and given how you reacted when your father first arrived, can you blame me for wanting you out of it as well?”

“No, I wouldn’t if it had been your decision but I know my Uncle and I know it was his.  Seeing as it has not happened here, the only one I can reasonably be annoyed at is you.  Now answer my force damned question.” Obi-Wan demands angrily standing up.

“Yes! I am saying the war may happen anyway.” Arl says loudly, the entire room freezes at the admission, even Arl.

“No.” Obi says harshly after a pregnant pause.

“No?” Arlie asks.

“No.  I do not care if I have to assassinate the man myself while he is possessing my father, I do not care if I have to kill every gods damned seppie out there.  That war will. Not. Happen.” Obi-Wan says through gritted teeth though everyone could see the tears and fear in his eyes, the whole body tremors and the sickly pale tone of his skin.

“Obi-Wan, I need you to…” Terza starts saying as she rises and steps closer to him, Obi’s eyes widen and he steps away several steps, Terza stops moving but Obi doesn’t he turns and rushes to the door.

“Ob-Wan!” Qui-Gon says worriedly.

“I got this.” Arl says going after him and ignoring the fear she feels and her own tears.

“Like hell you do, you set this off.” Qui says catching up and moving with her, they only have to go down the corridor before they find Obi-Wan standing frozen in the middle of the hallway, staring at little Anakin Skywalker who is sitting on a bench happily laughing at a bird that has somehow gotten into the temple.

(There are no birds on Coruscant.) Arl thinks before shaking her head disbelievingly at herself.

“Obi!” Ani cries happily when he notices him, he runs towards him when Obi drops to his knees and catches the young boy in his arms.

“Anakin, oh Ani.” Obi says holding the boy tightly and burying his face in his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Anakin asks, Obi nods.

“Yeah, I am now.  I got you back.”

“And I am never leaving, so don’t be sad.” Arl chokes back a sob before she centres herself, she would be strong, she will not break down until the job is complete.  Not the Sith, but her promise.  She would make the Jedi ready to evolve and then, then she would lay down with Ani and Obi and Owen and Garen and Xan and cry, grieve, break apart so that they could help put her back together.  But not yet, now she would be strong, and she could, for her brothers she would do anything and she would do this.

“Ani, what are you doing here?” Arlie asks, the young boy looks hurt.

“My test, you forgot?” The boy asks sadly, Arl’s eyes widen and she shakes her head.

“No Ani, of course I did not forget!  I just did not realise the time.” She says looking at the time on the chrono in the hall.

“If everything is all right here, I’ll go remind them of the time as well.” Qui-Gon suggests, Obi-Wan nods to his Master.  “Obi-Wan, just remember, you aren’t Ben, his mistakes are not your own.” His padawan smiles gratefully at him and relaxes more.

“What was that about?” Arl asks.

“Uh, Master Qui-Gon and I were talking last night about um, before.  I was saying it was hard to keep things straight in my head and he was reminding me that _Ben_ and I are different people.” Obi says mindful of the boy in his arms.

“Intelligent.” Arl says approvingly.

“Who’s Ben?” Anakin asks wanting to be included in the conversation.

“An old friend of mine.” Arl replies easily.

“Oh, is he here? Can I meet him?” Anakin asks.

“Sorry Ani, I haven’t seen him since I came here.”

“Then how does Obi-Wan know him?”

“Uh, he was my…uncle, and we were really close, but he made a lot of mistakes.  Yesterday Arl and I were talking about how similar he and I are and I was worried I would make the same mistakes.” Obi-Wan says making it up on the spot yet making it sound completely believable.

“Oh, well where is he now?” Anakin asks.

“He, uh, died.  A few days ago, that’s why we were talking about him.” Arl facepalms discreetly at Obi-Wan.

“I’m sorry about your Uncle Ben.  And your friend.” Anakin tells the two of them.

“Don’t worry about us Ani, we’ll miss him but, Good Old Uncle Ben left us a lot of work to do so we’ll keep busy.” Arlie tells her brother who smiles seeming less worried.

 

An hour later Anakin came out of the Council chamber with Garen and sees Shmi, Obi-Wan, Arlie, Dooku, and Qui-Gon waiting for him, he sprints over to them with a massive grin on his face.

“I passed!” He says happily leaping at his mother who easily catches her son.

“Congratulations Ani.” Shmi says holding her son close.  Obi puts a hand on his back and smiles proudly at him.

“Our Masters said if you would like, we’ll have a celebratory dinner at our place and invite some of the initiates so that he can get to know them before he goes to the creche?” Garen offers Shmi who smiles gratefully.

“That would be lovely, if you’re sure it won’t be an imposition.” She replies.

“Not at all Lady Skywalker.” He replies.

“Garen.” Shmi says.

“Sorry, Shmi.” He amends sheepishly.

“How about we go to the commissary and get some lunch?” Arl suggests, they all nod and begin heading to the door when a blonde girl a year younger than Obi-Wan and Garen comes sprinting up to them.

“ARL!” She yells desperately, “He just went crazy and I didn’t mean to hurt him but things exploded and…” The girls says, coming to a standstill in front of Arlie.

“Siri calm down, what are you talking about?” Arl asks her, she’d never seen the usually fearless girl so terrified.

“Xanatos.” She replies.

“Where.” Arl demands sounding very cold suddenly, running after Siri when she runs off, Dooku following without a word. “Go on without us.” Arl calls back to the others as an afterthought.

 

Siri led them down to the holding cell where Xanatos was being checked over by a healer.

“Get out.” Arl demands as soon as she enters the room.

“Hey, you cannot be here…Master Dooku.” The healer says when he notices him behind her.  Arl has little patience and grabs the guy by his collar.

“Get. Out.” She says again, Dooku nods to the guy who leaves quickly.  Probably to tell on them to Terza, she’d understand.  Arl moves and heals Xanatos, except the broken leg.

“Why did you stop?” Dooku asks seeing the leg still broken, Siri and Dooku were standing outside the cell, only trusting her to be alone in there because if it came to a fight she would win, she looks at him with a dry look on her face.

“Because he is about to wake up and I’d rather he be unable to move until I’m sure who is in control.”

“You think a broken leg would stop a Sith lord?” Xanatos’ voice says behind her, she knew instantly it was not her friend speaking.

“Wrath.” Arl says before turning back around.

“His shielding is impressive, it took me a while to break through, especially without him noticing and alerting someone.  But you should know Kitten, you cannot keep his mind from me forever.” He says giving her a look of pitiful condescension.

“Did you want something or just to gloat?” She says forcing herself not to flinch at his name for her.

“Join me in the mindscape and we’ll talk…Arlie!” He says, her name coming out as a sudden terrified shout.

“Xan?” Arl asks hopefully.

“Arls, I don’t, what…that’s enough of that.”

“Xan, listen to me, fight this.  I know you can, you are stronger than you know, fight.”

“Oh, he won’t be coming back Kitten, wait…what is this?” He says before Xanatos’ face suddenly goes blank, his eyes devoid of life as he drops to the ground.  Arl calmly walks forward, careful to make sure this was not a trick before bending down and sensing him still alive.

“He is alive.”

“What happened?” Dooku asks, she looks at Xan’s eyes.

“I’ve no idea.” She says touching his forehead to sense any darkness or light, any consciousness at all.  Then he starts screaming and convulsing, she changes tasks and attempts to calm his mind to control the convulsing as she searches for the source of his pain.

“By the force, what are you doing to him?!” Terza demands as she arrives outside the cell.

“It is not me, I am merely searching for the problem.  Wrath isn’t in here, but neither is Xanatos.” Arl tells them retreating from Xanatos’ body and looking up to them.  Xanatos continues to writhe and scream.  Terza enters the cell and kneels beside her and Xan’s body.  “I can put him under but that’s all anyone can do for him, his consciousness is not present in his mind, he’s just a shell.”

“What?” Dooku asks, everyone looks truly horrified, it was the most expression anyone had ever seen on Dooku’s face.  He hears the hitch in Siri’s breathing, although he does not know her he draws her into his arms.  The girl buries herself in his robes terrified but trying to calm herself, he holds her and pushes calm serenity into the force, the girl calms slightly, as do he and Terza.  Arl has blocked herself from it though. “What was that mindscape Wrath mentioned?  Could he be there?”

“Only one way to find out, I have to go there.” Arl says settling into a meditative position but she feels a hand on her shoulder stop her, she looks up to see Obi-Wan.

“You cannot go in alone, let’s get Xanatos to the healer’s wing, you and Dooku go and find him.  I’ll help Healer Terza monitor you both, I know what’s dangerous and what is not.” Obi-Wan tells her, she hesitates, unsure how he’d know, and nods, they head off to the healer’s.

“We should take Vos as well, he’s more impartial than either of us and he’s our partner.” Dooku tells her, she nods before smiling at him.

“Our partner?  You’ve claimed him as well then?” Arl asks jokingly, the two weren’t assigned to each other but after the experience the three went through, it was an unspoken agreement that they would not be separated.

“More like adopted him, overgrown child.” Dooku grumbles.

“Overgrown child?  Must be looking for me.” Vos says entering the healing room they were in.

“How did you…” Arl begins to ask.

“I felt your terror, both of yours and feelings of desperation that suggest a stupidly reckless plan, figured I’d come join and save your asses.  And complain about not being included but I guess I was going to be anyway.” He says with a smile, “So what are we doing?” he asks taking the seat beside Arl.  Xanatos was on a bed in between Dooku and Arlie.

“First step is entering Xanatos’ mind, after that just follow my lead.  I’ll explain when we get there.” Arl says.

“Arleia, do me a favour.  Don’t get lost, your Masters would kill me.”  Obi-Wan tells her, she smiles softly at him before entering a light meditative trance and entering Xan’s mind, she feels Dooku and Quinlan do the same. 

Arlie, Dooku, and Quinlan enter Xanatos’ mind and follow it to the ‘Mindscape’.  Once there she delves in deeper and urges them to follow, it’s quick work to bring them to the mindscape, they did not hesitate to follow her direction at all.

**_“Welcome to the mindscape._ ** **_” Arl says to them as she embodies herself, they follow her example and do the same though Vos_ ** **_’ is a little shimmery for a moment before Dooku reaches over to ground him, though they could not touch, Quinlan could follow the feeling of the_ ** **_‘limb_ ** **_’ to end up in the same state._ **

**_“Okay, where to now?_ ** **_” Quin asks surprised that his voice fills the entire area despite it being a normal volume._ **

**_“This place is your perception, all of it is what your mind sees, what you hear is all of what your mind hears.  It is complicated, I do not fully understand, I_ ** **_’ve only been here once but it is vaguely similar in its reliance on perception to a place I spent...well_ ** **_…no time in when I was a child._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Which time?_ ** **_” Dooku asks teasingly, he feels more than sees her glare._ **

**_“The first time._ ** **_”_ **

**_“You know, I have never actually heard you speak of when you were really a kid._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Look this is not exactly the most secure place, Xanatos_ ** **_’ mind has no shielding, anything can get in and take control, that_ ** **_’s why he is strapped down and why we are in a hurry.  Let_ ** **_’s get going.  Now, focus on what you can feel, there should be a bond, like a piece of string, thin but fixed firmly in place._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Found it._ ** **_” Dooku says._ **

**_“Same._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Good, follow it with me, we are going to the mind of a Sith.  One more thing, shield yourself well from everything in here except each other, that way if one of us comes under attack the other two can strengthen our shielding.  It_ ** **_’s likely we will learn a lot of things about each other so let_ ** **_’s just agree to not go looking for things and still be friends after this, yeah?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“Arlie, I_ ** **_…” Dooku starts saying._ **

**_“If you want to save your Padawan, this is how we do it, pick a priority because if you are not 100% with us then turn back now and we will get him._ ** **_” Arl replies, her annoyance becoming all they can feel before it fades quickly.  She opens herself to them and closes off to everything else, Vos follows her lead and eventually Dooku does as well._ **

**_“Oh_ ** **_…damn._ ** **_” Vos says now understanding why Dooku was so hesitant,_ ** **_“Oh we are going to have one long conversation when we get back and I reserve the right to be pissed.  But for now, let_ ** **_’s just get going._ ** **_” Vos says, although they can feel his anger and feelings of confusion tinged with betrayal, they sense no fear._ **

**_They follow the link through to another mind, this one dark and clouded, it reeked of corruption but there was something broken and reeling in a corner of it._ **

**_“Oh gods._ ** **_” Arl says suddenly._ **

**_“What? What is that?_ ** **_” Vos asks wanting to know what it was that seemed to be in such agonizing pain._ **

**_“We are not in Wrath_ ** **_’s mind.  We are in the body he possesses, this is what is left of Sheev Palpatine._ ** **_”_ **

 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**_“This is what is left of Sheev Palpatine.”_ **

**_“Damn Sith scum.” Vos spits out sounding angry and horrified. “Uh, no offense Doo.”_ **

**_“It is more than deserved here.” Dooku says sounding more horrified than anyone, he pulls his consciousness closer to the light, “Sir Palpatine.” He whispers unsurely, the broken, tormented being reached back slightly recognising his soul on some level, Dooku works to keep the darkness in him away from the being who pulls closer, sensing him do it._ **

**_“Darth Tyranus.” He says in recognition, mild fear, his voice shaky and weak._ **

**_“Yes.  I am so sorry, I did not mean for this to happen.”_ **

**_“I have seen his memories my boy, you tried to help, if in a rather murderous way.  I thank you for that.” Sheev tells them flinching at the slightest movement around him, the poor man was traumatised but still trying to comfort the Sith who had tried to save him, (long term effects of being a father) Arl supposes._ **

**_“Sir Palpatine, my name is Arl Aa, I am a friend of your son, Obi-Wan, and your brother.” She tells him, “They know what he’s done, that it is not you, we are trying to find a way to save you.” She tells him, his soul bleeds grief and love._ **

**_“Obi, he saw so much.  Tell Little Obi to, tell him to watch his Uncle Moo Moo for me.  He always does better when someone gives him a task.  And tell Mace, tell my brother I am so sorry.  I know he loved her, I tried to stop him, to save her, I couldn’t.  Oh gods, I couldn’t, I killed her.” He says descending into madness._ **

**_“Sir Palpatine, we are_ ** **going _to save you.  But you need to make a decision right now, what state are you going to be in when we do?  Are you going to be someone Obi-Wan has to look after, or are you going to be his father?” Quin tells him, Sheev’s soul seems tormented before it settles, the light growing and overcoming some of the corruption._**

**_“My son will always come before myself.” He tells him with fierce conviction._ **

**_“Then be ready to fight, when you feel his hold on you start breaking, you fight like hell and come back to him.”_ **

**_“We have to go, we have to find Xan.” Arl says quietly._ **

**_“If you mean the boy that my Father was chasing, they followed that.” Sheev says tugging lightly on another bond in the man’s head.  They thank him and leave him with something he has not had in a long time, hope._ **

****

**_The trio follow the bond along to its place in another’s mind, it is extremely well shielded though there is a crack, slowly healing._ **

**_“That must be where the other two came through.  We could try to break through in another spot while whoever it is is busy with that, but that will likely take longer than just bashing our way in.”_ **

**_“This is so against the code.” Quin says._ **

**_“Your code maybe.” Dooku says in a derisive snort._ **

**_“Oh, and yours is so good?”_ **

**_“Well it is not preventing me from saving my Padawan right now!”_ **

**_“Boys! A little focus please.  Now Quinlan, Obi warned the council that following this path to destroy the Sith would lead them from the Jedi ways, you all agreed to it.  Are you going to go through with that? Because we need to get going now before that closes over completely.” She can feel his hesitation before steely resolve replaces it._ **

**_“Let’s go.” He says focusing on the weak point, the three break their way through, forcing the consciousness far enough away that they can enter, the being embodies himself to make it easier to fight off._ **

**_“Well if it isn’t my favourite play things.” Darth Maul says._ **

**_“You two go find Xan, I’ll hold him off.” Vos tells them, he pushes them away when he feels their hesitation.  They move off, following the direction the force pulls them in._ **

**_“Any ideas?” Dooku says as they go leaving, their comrade to fight the enemy alone._ **

**_“Sheev said Cosinga was chasing Xan, I think he was leading him away to protect us.”_ **

**_“So where would he have gone next?”_ **

**_“I do not know Maul’s mind well enough to have any real idea.”_ **

**_“So, we are wandering through his mind aimlessly?”_ **

**_“No, we are following the will of the force.”_ **

**_“Spoken like a true Jedi.” Dooku tells her feeling equal parts put off and proud._ **

**_“I don’t get it, why pretend to be a Jedi?  Why not leave the order when you joined Sidious?” Arl asks as they continue moving, shielding against the darkness beating down on them._ **

**_“Sidious wanted me to stay as an informant.”_ **

**_“And why did you want to stay?” He seems surprised that she saw past the half-answer, “Our minds are connected Doo, I may not be looking for information but I can tell when you are lying, or half-truthing as it were.”_ **

**_“You remember what I said of my father and brother?”_ **

**_“Yes.”_ **

**_“That is why.  The Jedi saved me from that, intentional or not, and gave me a home.  Raised me, taught me all they knew and put their faith in me.  I may have betrayed the Jedi Code but I did not betray the Jedi.  What you said about the Jedi being family, that once you are a part of it you are for life, you were right.  The Jedi will always be my kin, I had no desire to leave that behind, even if I could not truly be one.” Arl seemed to accept his words, “Why did you stay with the Jedi?”_ **

**_“What do you mean?”_ **

**_“You hate the code, the Jedi, the way they live.”_ **

**_“I do not hate the Jedi nor the way they live. I disapprove of the limitations they place upon us when we wish to help people.  Their code gets in the way of simple tasks borne from a desire to help those who need it.  But they are peacekeepers, and when they stick to that purpose they do it well.”_ **

**_“So why not be a Jedi?”_ **

**_“Because the galaxy requires more than peace, it always has.  It needs protection and no one else is there to give it.  On Telos IV I pissed off one of the officials by refusing to send people to protect their planet.  I said we were peacekeepers, our job is to end conflict not help those injured by it.  That is why I cannot follow their code and ‘be a Jedi.’  I want to help people, keep them safe, protect them.  The Jedi seek to prevent harm or in cases when it has already begun, prevent more harm.  But what happens while they do that is left to those they leave behind, no accountability to those that suffer while they attempt to ‘keep the peace’.”_ **

**_“That brings me back to my original question, why stay?”_ **

**_“I made a promise.”_ **

**_“What promise?”_ **

**_“Well if I do not fail again, you will find out one day.  In the meantime, I have come to realise something.”_ **

**_“What is that?”_ **

**_“The Jedi need protecting too.”_ **

****

**_A while later they follow another bond out of the Zabrak’s mind, this new one is unshielded, the entire being seems to radiate pain and suffering._ **

**_“What is this?” Arl asks attempting to block out the agony echoing around them._ **

**_“This is what happens to someone’s mind when they are tortured.” Dooku replies shuddering as he speaks from experience._ **

**_“Whose being tortured?”_ **

**_“Arl I have been right beside you since 7 th hour, how would I have any more information than you?”_ **

**_“All right, no need to get snippy.”_ **

**_“Shut up, what is that?” Dooku asks pulling Arlie’s awareness towards the mess of two beings intertwining, they pull themselves closer both feeling two familiar presences and immense relief when they recognise who._ **

**_“XAN!” Arl yells._ **

**_“What are you, crazy? Now you’ve gotten Wrath’s attention as well!” Dooku tells her._ **

**_“She always has my attention, Apprentice.” Wrath says as he embodies himself, Xan does as well, Dooku’s focus switches to Xan for a moment before back to Wrath._ **

**_“Apprentice?” Xanatos whispers shocked betrayal ringing in the very air around them even as the tormented mind they inhabit reverberates with fresh agony._ **

**_“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Wrath asks mockingly, “My dear Darth Tyranus was my greatest apprentice, until he betrayed me.” Wrath says voice darkening with barely contained rage._ **

**_“Xanatos, you need to come with us.” Arl says, Xan pulls himself to them, she wraps her consciousness around him protectively._ **

**_“Whose mind is this?” Dooku asks feeling the desperation of the being grow._ **

**_“My brother’s.” Maul says darkly revealing himself, his embodiment holding Quin, torn and barely staying together._ **

**_“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Arl screams._ **

**_“He looked at something he should not have.  I did nothing, I did not have to.” Maul tells them, Arl looks at her friend who does not appear to be able to shield himself from the hellish torture this being is experiencing._ **

**_“Your brother, so who’s torturing him?” Arl asks, Maul sneers._ **

**_“Arl, is that really the most important thing right now?” Dooku hisses beside her._ **

**_“I don’t know, I don’t know the answer, it may very well be the only thing that gets us out of the potentially very dangerous situation we have found ourselves in.”_ **

**_“How is this only potentially bad?” Xan asks incredulously._ **

**_“Well, Cosinga is expending a portion of his strength to keep his hold over Sheev, and Maul was damaged by whatever Quin did before getting himself in that state.”_ **

**_“If you three are quite finished?  You are forgetting something.” Cosinga tells them._ **

**_“And what might that be?” Arl asks sarcastically._ **

**_“My son is not the only one I have a hold over.”_ **

**_At that moment Xanatos attacks Arl, fighting from her grip, faltering every now and then as he attempts to fight the corruption he feels.  It is enough for Dooku to take over and keep him at bay, their embodiments entering a duel._ **

**_“YOU LIED TO ME!” Xanatos screams to Dooku, reminding them that possession is not the only way Wrath has of controlling people.  Meanwhile Maul chucks Quin aside and joins Wrath in circling Arlie who centres herself and prepares to fight._ **

**_The three fight as though they were flesh and blood, minds clashing against each other brutally.  Had it truly been a physical fight Arlie would have wiped the floor with Maul and been able to focus on Wrath, but it was not.  Wrath was skilful at mind manipulation, something that Arl did not have as much experience in.  She shielded brilliantly stopping him from taking control, but that did not mean that while in his domain as she is, he could not influence her at all.  All he truly did was press on her protective anger and make it grow to rage heading straight for seething hatred when she feels something strengthen her._ **

**_“Mindscape Part 1: Trust Falls, what do you think?” Quin’s voice sputters weakly, Arl laughs sounding relieved as she fights the Sith._ **

**_“It needs work.” Dooku replies carrying an unconscious Xanatos, Dooku must have put him to sleep, which means he got past Wrath’s hold which means…Quin gave him strength too._ **

**_“Well what do you suggest?” Quin asks as Dooku moves to him to protect him should the Sith turn to them, his consciousness cradling his Padawan close.  “Go help Arl.”_ **

**_“I cannot leave you two.”  He says as he moves them towards the bond they came through, relieved to find it weak with Maul engaged, he breaks through easily._ **

**_“There is nothing more blocking us, I will get him home, go save her.” Quin says struggling under the strain of pulling along Xanatos but still managing, Dooku gives them a helpful push into Maul’s mind before going to help Arl._ **

**_The two battle but are slowly losing, Arl’s rage still high and making her movements slopping and dangerous._ **

**_“Arl we need to get out of here.” He tells her as he fights Maul._ **

**_“No, we need to win.” She replies darkly._ **

**_“Do not lose yourself in this rage, it is Wrath controlling you.  We cannot win this, not without help.”  She hesitates for a moment, then forces Wrath away and pulls Dooku with her as they move, Maul blocks the link to his mind forcing them to run the other way. “We’re going to have to find another way around to our minds.”_ **

**_“How the hell are we going to do that?”_ **

**_“I don’t kriffing know!” Arlie screams at him, she tries to tamper down her anger, he can feel her trying, he lends a hand and soon it is simmering but controllable rage. “Who is torturing Maul’s brother?” Dooku bites back the impatient comment not wanting to set her off again. “We need to search his mind and find out.”_ **

**_The two begin sifting through the mind they have invaded, they find his name, Feral.  Soon enough they find a memory of him being taken by a man Dooku does not recognise, but Arl’s rage turns to hate and fear and resentment.  No, not fear, terror, paralysing terror. “Arl?”_ **

**_“Darth Plagueis.” She tells him in a horrified whisper. “Wait no, think think, we can use this.”_ **

**_“How?”_ **

**_“Back up.  We get his attention, pull him in. He may help me, we may be able to get him to engage the other two and when he does we follow his mind back.  There should be an old broken bond between he and I.  If we can find it I can reconnect it, we get back through and I break it again.  I may need your help for that last part.” Arl explains biting back the hatred she feels._ **

**_“We need to get the other two close then.” Dooku says._ **

**_“We won’t have to wait long.” Arl says seeing the other Wrath coming towards them, “Maul must still be guarding the link.  I need you to hold Wrath off while I get Hego’s attention.”_ **

**_“Arl, what happens if he doesn’t come?” Arl looks at him, a peaceful serenity about her, momentarily covering the rage growing as Wrath gets closer._ **

**_“Then the other two have been saved and we have done a lot to prepare them to fight the Sith.  We do what damage we can while we can.” Dooku feels an easy acceptance at that, it seemed right that if he goes out, he goes out fixing a mistake he made long ago._ **

**_“Go.” Dooku says as Wrath reaches them.  She runs, putting some distance between her and the fight she can sense building.  She settles herself and does something she hoped she’d never have to do again.  She calls on the rage, she thinks of the day she said goodbye to her Mother on Tatooine and feels the rage turn to hatred.  She pushes it out, making herself grow, beating Feral down to a small part of his mind and she takes over enough of it to force a single thought out of his mouth._ **

**_“Arleia Skywalker…help.” Before she releases Feral and nearly passes out, she’s caught before she falls though and opens her awareness to see Hego Damask before her._ **

**_“Hello Lei.”_ **

****

**_Quinlan drags Xanatos back through Maul’s mind, moving quickly through to Sheev’s before stopping.  He cannot pull Xan any further, luckily, his desperation seems to have woken Xanatos, the distance and preoccupation of Wrath seems to have made his hold on Xanatos break._ **

**_“Knight Vos?” Xan asks before his memories hit him so hard Quin sees it too, his fight with Dooku and the thoughts Wrath put in his head._ **

**_“Kid…” Quin begins to say despite only being three years older than him._ **

**_“I’ll deal with it later, we need to get you back.” Xanatos says helping Quin to get moving again._ **

****

Obi-Wan has seen and done a lot, but watching over three people he cares about, one of them being Darth Kriffing Tyranus, as they enter his friend’s mind, that friend being Kriffing Xanatos, was not something he ever saw himself doing.

“What is going on in here?” Mace asks as he and Yoda enter, Terza and he had agreed that the situation was important enough that the head of the order and the grandmaster be informed.

“Rescue operation.” Obi-Wan replies, “Xanatos went missing from his mind, Master Aa, Dooku, and Knight Vos went to find him.”

“They WHAT?!” Mace yells incredulously before visibly calming himself and ignoring Obi’s disregard of Dooku’s title.

“Arl nearly went on her own Mace, he stopped her and had her bring Dooku who insisted Quinlan go too.” Terza tells her friend not wanting Obi-Wan to deal with anger he does not deserve.

“What do we do?” Mace asks.

“We wait.”

And wait they did…for several hours…over a day later Quin and Xanatos suddenly jolted into wakefulness.

“Kriffing shit fucker!” Quin says as he feels the agony of the damage to his mind on a physical level and find wounds covering his body, “Well damn.” He says before passing out.

“Vos!” Xan calls worriedly, noticing him in control the others removed his restraints so he sat up as Terza and another healer put Quin on a medical bed and began dealing with his wounds. “Get Padawan Bellan in here to heal him, the damage is to his mind not his body.  She may be able to actually help with what Arls has taught her.” Terza nods and leaves the room.

“Tell us Padawan what happened you must.” Yoda tells him as he sits next to him on the bed.

“Of course Master Yoda.  Darth Wrath invaded my mind again, I fought and briefly got back control but lost it again as he beat me down, Arl told me to fight but I knew I could not hold him off so I did the only other thing I could.  I led him away from my mind by following the link he created back to his.  Of course then I was in his territory and knew I would not last long, I found the closest bond and went through it.  I could feel him following me as I broke down the shields blocking the other end of the bond.  I do not know whose mind it was, I passed through it too quickly, moving to another.  It was there that Wrath caught up to me.  I fought him as best I could, then Arlie and Mas…They showed up, but Quinlan was not there.  Wrath warped my mind again and turned me against them, Arlie fought Wrath and Maul who had turned up with Quinlan.  Then I was unconscious, when I came to, Quinlan was literally falling apart in front of me, he needed to get back to his own mind to heal.  I realised we were back in Wrath’s mind and followed the now dormant link back to my own and pushed Vos back into his own before tearing apart the link Wrath made in my mind.  He can make another one but at least for the moment, my mind is completely my own.”

“News we are all relieved to hear, where are the other two?” Mace asks worried.

“I do not know, when they got separated I must have been unconscious.”

“The right thing you did bringing Knight Vos back here.  Rest you should, your help they may need.” Yoda says Xan doesn’t question him, just lays back down.  He watches Dooku and Arlie for a while before drifting off to sleep.

 

**_“Hello Lei.” Hego says as he notices her, she fights off the revolted shiver she feels when she hears the old pet name._ **

**_“Help us, please.” She says weakly, “Darth Wrath, he…” She starts saying before he interrupts._ **

**_“I can feel the conflict dearest, why do you care for a fight between two Sith?”_ **

**_“One is my friend, the other attempting to gain my allegiance in his quest to make you suffer.” She replies honestly, he smiles acceptingly._ **

**_“Yes, that would do it.  Let’s go save your friend then.” He says caringly, she forces herself to ignore the comfort his familiar words and tone bring._ **

_(Flashback)_

_Arleia Skywalker was three years old, a slave on Tatooine.  Her Master had told her to go buy some parts he needed from a nearby trader.  As she walked she saw an older boy beating down on a friend of hers, she knew she could not stop him, but if she went to get help she would be late and be punished.  She decided quickly and ran to a house that is far more her home than the slave quarters she and her mother reside in._

_“Papa!” She calls desperately as she runs inside._

_“Lei, what’s wrong?” Hego asks worriedly scooping the young girl into his arms._

_“He’s hurting Suri.” She tells him bursting into fearful tears._

_“Hey, Lei calm down. We’ll help her, where?” he asks._

_“North of the Marketplace.” She tells him calmed by his words, he puts her down and holds out his hand._

_“Well then, let’s go save your friend.” She takes her Papa’s hand without hesitation, he was by far the best thing that had ever happened to her and her mother.  A way better Father than_ he _had ever been, her Papa would help Suri, he always helps her._

_(End of Flashback)_

****

**_Dooku fights off Wrath as best he can, trying to buy Arl as much time as possible, he starts feeling exhaustion creeping in though, how long had it been since they entered the mindscape? Hours? Days? Longer?_ **

**_“You cannot beat me my old apprentice, you never could.  That is why I am a Sith Lord and you are a failure hiding with the Jedi.  What would happen if I ratted you out I wonder?  Perhaps they’d be more understanding than your apprentice was…then again…probably not.  No one likes a traitor.” Wrath says, the double meaning in his last words reminding Dooku that he tried to kill this man which is probably strengthening Wrath’s will to fight._ **

**_“He is not my apprentice.” Dooku bites out as he fights, Wrath raises a curious eyebrow unsure where he is going with this._ **

**_“No?”_ **

**_“No…he’s my Padawan.  And you will go nowhere near him again.” Dooku demands fighting back harder._ **

**_“And how are you going to stop me?  Kill me?  Two have tried, two have failed.”_ **

**_“Perhaps we will have more luck trying together.” Plagueis says appearing at Dooku’s side while keeping Arlie behind him.  The distraction is all Hego needs to strike out at the man, Dooku and he work in tandem, both knowing the man’s fighting style well, however he knows their shared weakness.  He sends a wave of pure darkness towards Arlie who cannot shield herself from it._ **

**_“Arl!” Dooku calls at the same time Hego calls, “Lei!”_ **

**_Plagueis turns back to Wrath as he addresses Dooku, “Tyranus, there’s a link in my mind you can use, get her out of here.” He says as Arlie writhes, the light in her fighting off the darkness._ **

**_“You are going to willingly let us into your mind?” Dooku asks grabbing his Knight-Partner._ **

**_“If it would save her I would do anything.” He replies instantly and somehow, Dooku believes him.  Then Arlie stops moving, sending a wave of agony through to Wrath, Plagueis pulls the two of them into his mind and blocks it off afterwards._ **

**_Plagueis’ mind was different than the others.  Dooku thinks it must be some complicated way of making people get lost inside it, but he finds himself standing in a desert with an even younger Arlie in his lap._ **

**_“What in all the Sith hells?”_ **

****

Quinlan awoke sometime later, looking around he sees Xanatos seated on the bed beside him playing Sabacc with Qui-Gon, Dooku and Arlie had been moved to their own beds on the other side of Xan.

“How long was I out?” He asks surprised by the harsh sound of his voice, he clears his throat a couple of times.

“Five hours and 43 minutes, they still aren’t back.” Xanatos answers instantly, the worry clear in his voice as well as the way he has obviously been obsessively checking the chrono.

“Is there nothing we can do?” Xan shakes his head. Quinlan sighs dejectedly.

“What happened while I was unconscious?”

“Well your Mas…um…Dooku, he uh, he used the force to render you unconscious so you would stop attacking.  Then he tried to get us back, I told him I’d take you back and that he had to go help Arl who was fighting Maul and Wrath alone.  He did, I dragged you back into Maul’s mind and then into Palpatine’s.  Then you woke up.” He tells them.

“Oh, it was Maul’s mind…wait…Palpatine’s? I thought that was Wrath’s?”

“No, you followed a link between your mind and the mind of the man he was possessing, we actually made contact with Palp as we went through.  Which reminds me I have a message from him for your Padawan and Master Windu.” Quinlan says looking to Qui-Gon, both men look surprised not having expected that news.

“Oh good your awake, what the hell happened to you?” Master Tholme asks entering the room with Healer Terza, Yoda and Mace.

“Oh…heeeey Master.” Quin says knowing he was about to get the scolding of his life.

“Quinlan.” Tholme says shortly.

“Okay so Xanatos was missing and we did not have time because Arlie said something might come and take Xanatos’ mind but Maul was in the way so I pushed the other two to continue on and delayed Maul as best I could on my own but I made a mistake and got distracted by something and ended up getting so lost and confused I started destroying myself instead of Maul, he actually pulled me out of it and then I blacked out.  When I came to Arl was losing herself to rage that Wrath was inducing so I sent her some of my strength, and Dooku who needed an extra push to overcome Wrath’s hold on Xanatos.” Quinlan tells them quickly.

“All the dangers of mind hopping and engaging in battle in the mindscape and you manage to get lost and attack yourself?” Xan asks dryly.

“Hey you didn’t do so well either!” He defends.

“I didn’t attack myself.”

“No you attacked us instead.”

“That is not fair!”

“Well you didn’t see what I saw either!”

“Hey!” Mace yelled getting their attention. “Honestly it’s like separating Arl and Garen.  Who cares who fucked up more?  You both made it back and you are both okay now.”  They both look suitably chastised.

“Padawan, what did you mean he doesn’t know what you saw.” Quinlan ducks his head awkwardly.

“I saw a memory of Maul’s, got caught in it which is how I ended up attacking myself.  None of his memories are good, he’s a Dark Sith.” Quin says recalling the term Arlie had begun using now that he knew why she was differentiating.

“All Sith are dark Vos.” Xanatos says intensely, everyone was looking at Vos at the moment and none saw Qui-Gon tense at the words, Quin files that away for his promised conversation with Dooku later.

“Xanatos, they live differently from us, they follow a different code, one we deem dangerous.  But unless they are actively hurting people, who are we to call them dark.  You know true darkness, you have seen it and experienced it, do you really believe what you are saying or are you merely angry because of your own experiences?” He asks Xan who looks affronted before storming out of the room.

“Well at least he waited until he was cleared.” Tholme says sending a pointed look to his former Padawan who cringes.  Tholme had been on a long-term mission on Alderaan since before Telos IV, when he returned to his former Padawan unconscious he had demanded an explanation.  They caught him up on what Quinlan had been up to and after Obi-Wan gave them the all clear, he was told about everything else as well.  He was not at all impressed at the recklessness of his former Padawan.

“Could we possibly have a moment in private while he chews me out?” Quin requests, Mace nods so they leave.

“Some random girl you barely know claims to be from the future and asks you to go on a lovely trip through the minds of two Sith and one torture victim and you think, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a smart and reasonable thing to do’?!” Tholme yells incredulously.

“Hey! She is from the future and she did not ask, she was going to go alone, Dooku and I volunteered.  Xanatos is important to them and so he is to me as well, I was not just going to leave him.  And I’ll have you know that the two of them saved my life and are the two people I am currently closest with in the world.  You know what else?  They trust me!  Dooku trusted me with his injured Padawan, Arlie trusted me with her brother though she does not remember it, meanwhile you do not even trust me to brush my own teeth.  If you were ever even around anymore, you could have had a say in what I do but since you aren’t, you can shut the hell up and deal with the fact that they are choices _I_ make about _my_ life, a life you chose to have little part in.” Quinlan replies in his own defence and that of his friends.

“Quin…I-I’m sorry.  I do trust you, I didn’t mean to cut you out I just…I sheltered you too much, hovered, did not give you enough breathing room when you were a Padawan.  So, after you were knighted I needed to back off and let you learn to look after yourself.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“Would you really have accepted it?” Quinlan sighs knowing his Master was right.

“Back then, no.  But if having Dooku as a partner has taught me anything, it’s how to view a situation from the Master’s point of view as well as the Padawan’s.  That and a Master would do whatever he felt was best for his student.”

“Perhaps Dooku is not the best example of that but yes, that’s true.” Quinlan scowls.

“Dooku just faced down two Sith to save his Padawan.  Not to mention opening his mind to me and to Arl.”

“That is an insane amount of trust.”

“Would you at least get to know them both before deciding they are reckless and a bad influence Master?  Please?” Tholme sighs but agrees earning a bright smile from his former Padawan.

 

**_“Doo?” Arl asks as she comes to and sees a desert, Dooku carrying her towards a town she’d recognise anywhere.  Yet it felt wrong, like a lie, an illusion.  Then she remembers everything that happened, “This is Hego’s mind?”_ **

**_“Some people put their strongest memories to the forefront of their mind when they go into battle to steel their resolve. He let us in voluntarily so we are not blocked from viewing it by shielding, I’ve no idea where we are though.” Dooku replies, she shifts to sit on his hip knowing it would be more comfortable for him, unable to help the old nervous habit she put her thumb in her mouth to bite on the nail._ **

**_“I do.” She says before noticing the slip and cursing herself, dropping her hand. “Put me down, I have an idea.” He does, “This is not real so theoretically I should be able to appear in whatever form I choose.” She focuses and transforms her embodiment into the adult body she once had. “Oh wow, height, that’s nice.”_ **

**_“This is you?”_ **

**_“Twenty-eight-year-old me yes.  I have never known myself beyond this age.” She tells him sadly._ **

**_“Well you look beautiful no matter what age.” He tells her supportively, she smiles and links arms with him._ **

**_“I knew there was a reason you’re my friend.”_ **

**_“Oh, we are friends now?” He asks mockingly._ **

**_“Idiot.” She says as she shoves him._ **

**_“So, you said you know where we are?” He reminds her, the smile falls from her face making him regret asking._ **

**_“Tatooine.”_ **


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Three days, it had been three days since they first went into Xanatos’ mind.  A day and a half since Quinlan had woken up, three hours since Micah had gotten Mace to get some sleep with the promise that he’d stay with Arlie and Dooku, an hour since Obi-Wan had done the same with Qui-Gon.  Xanatos had come back half an hour ago, been majorly chastised by Yoda himself for running off for a day and a half with no word to anyone.  No one knew where he had been and he had not said a word at all since he walked back in to take a seat beside his Master.  Yoda had been suitably peeved that his lecture had been entirely ignored, Quinlan suggested he try again when Dooku was awake.  That was twenty minutes ago, no one had spoken since.  Arleia and Dooku lay in their beds, Quinlan in a seat between the two, Micah on the other side of Arlie’s, Xanatos on the other side of Dooku’s.  Obi-Wan was standing and looking out of the window at the skyline.

“I do not think I have ever been so worried in my life.” Micah says saying the first thing that popped into his head to break the deafening silence.

“I have, on the ship back from Part 3 of the mission to Telos IV.” Quinlan tells them, “When Arl passed out, I was so worried she wouldn’t wake up again.”

“I didn’t know that.” Mic says.

“Neither does she.” Silence falls again for a while.

“What about you Obi-Wan? When were you the most worried for someone?” Micah asks expecting some horrifying story from the war and not sure why he’d even asked.

“Anakin fell off of the balcony from our quarters when he was thirteen.  I was so fucking scared my Padawan had just died, then I looked over and he was floating in mid-air.  He thought I’d caught him with the force, I was so confused.  Then I looked past him to a ledge far below, the one he would have landed on and I saw Xanatos standing there.  I got Ani over the ledge and looked back down, and he was gone.”  Obi-Wan tells him, he’d never told Arl that, pretended he hadn’t seen Xan since the day he pretended he died.  It only would have hurt her more to know he had been so close and she’d had no idea.

“How did he fall off of a balcony?” Xan asks knowing the child in question to be quite well balanced.

“Okay, when I say fell…I mean I pushed him off.” Obi-Wan says earning startled looks, “Not intentionally.  I had been meditating on the balcony when he comes out yelling something about a fire in a fountain and that Arlie did it, I panicked, I was just coming back to myself and this loud thing was coming straight for me so I naturally force tossed it away.  Worst fucking moment of my life when I realised what had happened.” He tells them before cringing, “Well, one of.  Your turn Xan, when were you the most worried?”

“When I came back to myself on Telos IV, saw Dooku unmoving on the floor.  My memory was slightly fuzzy, I knew I had attacked him, I didn’t know he was alive.” He replies instantly.

“Well damn.” Quinlan says dumbly. “What about everyone’s moments when they were most worried for Arlie?  She seems to cause them a lot so let’s go three most worried?”

“Well, this.  Um, the moment I realised she was fallen, and when Garen pointed out she was a traumatised kid that I had just yelled at during a breakdown.” Micah tells them.

“You yelled at her?” Obi-Wan asks incredulously.

“I didn’t think it through but yeah, I done fucked.  What about you Obi-Wan?”

“Um, when I walked in and found her sobbing against a wall surrounded by the younglings Anakin had killed.” Obi-Wan says first.

“Well that got dark quickly.” Xanatos says.

“We are talking about our three most worried times involving Arleia Skywalker, what did you expect?” Quin counters, Xan nods accepting the point, “Go on Obi.”

“Okay, the moment I found out Vader had killed Garen and I knew it would get back to Arlie.  And when I watched her stay completely calm as I relayed to the council that Xanatos had jumped into acid after attempting to kill Qui-Gon.”

“I thought I didn’t jump?” Xan asks confused.

“You didn’t, I stopped you but I also agreed to lie to everyone, told them you were dead so no one went looking for you.  That included Master Qui-Gon and Arlie.”

“Well my worst one would be the first time Wrath possessed me and Arlie was alone, then there was a few minutes after that when Wrath called her fallen, and then the moment he told her what her Sith name would be when she joined him…no wait, I take back the called her fallen part, it was a few seconds before that when he sent a wave of dark energy at her and she just let it pass through her.”

“Mine was the moment she passed out on the ship, uh, when I saw her falling into the rage Wrath was creating, and when I found out she had jumped off of the temple.”

“How about something happier?  Happiest moment of your life to date?” Micah suggests, everyone is quiet while they think. “Mine is the first time I met Arl, she froze the entire council chamber, put what she called ice skates on our feet and started ice skating with Xan around the room.  Next thing I know Mace and I are skating around the room too.” Everyone smiles at the story.

“Mine’s the first time I had my little brother on my lap and our baby sister in our arms.  We were beside our mother in the medical ward and our father was kneeling beside us, Uncle Moo Moo was making silly faces to keep Nih-Lo smiling at the camera.” Obi-Wan tells them.

“Mine’s the day I was knighted, Master Tholme did it on my eighteenth birthday and then paid for me and a few friends to go out drinking to celebrate both.  I surprised him by asking him to come along, the look on his face was the happiest I’ve ever seen him.” Quinlan told them.

“Mine was the first time I sparred in front of Arlie, she, Master Windu and Master Dooku were watching Master Qui-Gon and I.  She stood up for me, that night Master Qui-Gon said he was proud of my accomplishments.  It was the nicest moment we’d had in months and I thought maybe everything could be okay.” Xanatos tells them, they lapsed into silence again.

 

 

**_“We need to find the link to your mind._ ** **_”  Dooku tells Arl who nods._ **

**_“One would assume it_ ** **_’s little me in there, how he is representing it as dormant we may have to work around, it will depend on how he does so._ ** **_” The two move into Mos Espa looking around, Arl lead them through the marketplace towards Hego_ ** **_’s old house when they heard a high pitched scream._ **

**_“PAPA!_ ** **_” They both run towards the scream and find young Arleia, Arl sees the scene playing out and collapses to her knees, hands over her mouth as she chokes back a sob._ **

**_“Arl._ ** **_” Dooku asks not sure what is happening, all he knew was that many were slaughtered._ **

**_“This is the day Mama made him leave._ ** **_” She whispers to him as he puts an arm around her._ **

**_“When you told us, I got the impression you left the worst part out._ ** **_”_ **

**_“I did._ ** **_”_ **

**_“What was the worst part?_ ** **_”_ **

**_“I spent a long time debating that with myself and hating myself for the answer I came to._ ** **_”_ **

**_“Which was?_ ** **_” Dooku pushes._ **

**_“That I didn_ ** **_’t come back._ ** **_” Hego_ ** **_’s voice says from behind them, they turn to find a young version of him covered in blood._ **

**_“She sent you away._ ** **_” She tells him, he shakes his head._ **

**_“No Lei, I left you, both of you.  I saw the fear in your eyes, in your mother_ ** **_’s and I thought I was doing what was best.  I used this memory to help me fight because thinking of it made me remember that I did not do what was best, I ran away and left you two to pick up the pieces.  I promised myself I would never fail you again and it gave me the strength to keep fighting, is giving me the strength to.  The truth is Arleia, I love you.  You are my daughter, I love your mother as well.  But I made a decision to be a Sith and a dark one, I cannot undo the darkness in my heart and I cannot change the past.  But I can keep it away from you._ ** **_” Arlie starts crying, he wipes away the tears._ ** **_“I have to stop fighting Wrath now, you need to go.  Do not mourn me Lei, just be better than I am, and make our sacrifice worth this._ ** **_” He says looking at the despair on young Arleia_ ** **_’s face.  Arl looks back to him, but he is gone.  She and Dooku go over to little Arlie and each grab one of her shoulders._ **

**_“It_ ** **_’ll be okay, Papa loves you, always._ ** **_” Arl tells her younger self before allowing herself to fall back into her own mind.  As requested Dooku helps her destroy the link in her mind before she pushes him back into his own mind._ **

Arl opens her eyes and sees her Master asleep beside her, she puts a hand on his bald head which wakes him.

“Morning sleepyhead, I was beginning to think you’d sleep the whole day away.” Arl jokes, Mace stutters out a laugh as he holds her close to him and she hugs him back.

“I love you Arl.” He tells her, she smiles into his shoulder.

“I love you too Master.”

 

Xanatos, Dooku, Mace and Arl had been the only ones in the room, everyone else had been dragged to a dinner Shmi had put together to make sure everyone actually ate something beyond a quick snack.  Knowing Shmi had a habit of cooking way too much now that she had ingredients to work with, the four felt no guilt about turning up unannounced.

“Room for four more?” Dooku asks from the open doorway, they had been in Mace’s quarters since it was largest of all the ones they could have used.

“Arlie!” Garen, Obi-Wan, and Anakin all shouted happily at once as they ran over to her, she attempted to hug them all but, little arms, they ended up hugging her as she nuzzled their shoulders.  She then went over to her other Master and hugged him, then went and sat on her mother’s lap at the table, curling into her and closing her eyes at the safety and warmth that she felt.  Most seem surprised at the display though happy because it certainly seemed to be a step in the right direction, Dooku just smiled, maybe Hego’s words would give the two a chance to heal.

 

The next day found Depa, Adi, Eeth, Ki-Adi, Saesee, Shaak, Yoda, Mace, Micah, Tahl, Bant, Plo, Kit, Quinlan, Terza, Tholme, Bellan, Dooku, Xanatos, Garen, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan sitting around the table in the meeting room once again.  They had had to bring in more chairs and a square table to add onto the already present meeting table but they all fit in the end.

“Okay, so, Xanatos is now safe?” Garen asks when no one speaks.  It seemed to be a case lately of when speaking about this topic, everyone was an equal.

“For now, Wrath was beaten down too much, rendered too weak to recreate the link I destroyed.” Xanatos tells them, “Who knows how long that will last though.”

“Possibly a while, minds only heal properly when in their own head, Wrath cannot be so his healing process will be quite drawn out if possible at all.” Obi-Wan tells them.

“How’d you beat him down anyway?”  Bant asks, Dooku and Arlie exchange looks.

“It was my idea,” Arlie begins at the same time Dooku says, “We had no choice by that point.”

“Well that’s a comforting way to begin.” Tholme says before wincing as his former Padawan kicks him under the table.

“We may have, kind of…” Dooku trails off awkwardly.

“What did you do Master?” Xanatos asks warily, Dooku had been honestly surprised to see him sitting there when they woke up, the hug he had gotten was even more surprising though happily returned.  Later that night he and Xan had had a long conversation of him answering any and all questions Xanatos had thought up.  This morning they seemed to be okay, if a little awkward.

“I did it.” Arl says prompting all eyes to turn on her. “We were in Feral Oppresses mind.” Arl says confusing everyone but Obi-Wan.

“Fuck.” He says.

“Language padawan.” Qui-Gon says with the air of someone tired of saying the same thing over and over again.

“Sorry Master.” Obi says as though it were the next part of a long ago memorised script. “So Feral.”

“Yes, he was being tortured.”

“So we heard.” Mic says gesturing with his head to Quinlan and Xanatos.

“Right, well we worked out who must have been doing it.” Dooku says.

“How?” Saesee asks, Dooku flinches.

“We may have searched through his memories.” He replies.

“…” Obi stares at Arlie.

“…” Arlie stares back.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…” this went on for a while.

“I assume you found something useful, so who was it?” Obi-Wan asks finally looking away, Arl looked slightly calmer.

“Darth Plagueis.” Arl says losing all semblance of the calm she managed to obtain for half a kriffing second.

“And what did you do with this information?” Bant asks.

“Asked for help.” Dooku replied, Qui-Gon froze looking at Dooku, as did Xanatos.

“Well I did anyway, I knew he’d help me.” Arl says noticing the interaction, Qui-Gon and Xanatos immediately relaxed while everyone else tensed.

“He did, allowed us passage into his mind while he held Wrath off, we escaped through his mind into Arlie’s and then I continued to my own after breaking the link between Arlie and Darth Plagueis.”

“Can’t do things the easy way, can you?” Garen asks. “Okay, you went into Sheev Palpatine’s mind, did you learn anything useful there?”

“Well we made contact with Palpatine.  He was…not doing so great.  But Quinlan helped him I think, he was stronger when we left.  He’s ready to fight for control when we give him an opening.” Dooku replies.

“So now we just have to give him that opening, have you found anything more on getting Wrath out of Sir Palpatine?” Bellan asks looking to Bant and Tahl.

“Not as of yet, we wish to go to the library on Naboo, unsurprisingly, the Nubians have a history of a cult who dealt with possession a lot.  Some of the old accounts are in their public library in Theed.” Bant replies.

“That’s a good idea but be careful, he has a lot of influence there currently and may be waiting for someone to do exactly that.” Arleia reminds them.

“If you run into trouble, ask to speak to Ruwee Naberrie and tell him you are a friend of mine and need help.  He’s my sister’s godfather, we were quite close once.” Obi-Wan says as explanation, Bant and Tahl nod in understanding before Terza bursts, having been holding laughter in for the last few minutes, everyone looks at her in confusion while her Padawan drops her head to the table, obviously knowing what is happening.

“Is no one going to mention the fact that all the Masters and Knights in the room have sat around not knowing how to proceed while the Padawans have taken control and made more progress in a few minutes than we have in a month?” Terza asks, Qui-Gon smiles while Mic sniggers.

“Surprising it is not.” Yoda says happily.

“In the meantime, Obi-Wan sat through the evaluation while certain parties were taking an ‘extended nap’ and has consented for the results to be known to all.  We agreed that it may be important should anything happen for you all to have a vague idea of what to expect.  If she consents we are hoping whoever evaluates Arl will do the same.” Bellan tells them all, they are quiet waiting for her to continue. “Well, in my almost professional opinion…he’s nuts.” Several people sputter out a laugh, Qui-Gon, who had been taking a sip of water, spit it out and proceeded to choke.

“What she means is I have lasting psychological damage.” Obi-Wan tells them giving her an unimpressed look as he rubs gentle circles on his Master’s back to help him breathe.

“That is, I believe, what she said.” Dooku tells him dryly, Arl laughs.

“Basically, PTSD, also a recovering dissociative personality disorder that he seems to have largely pieced back together except for the usual occasional regression.  He’s aware of the other personality and can remember actions from the other’s control.  The biggest problem with that being the other personality.” Bellan says.

“What do you mean by that?” Terza asks, everyone is rather shocked by the assessment, Arl look at Obi-Wan questioningly who simply gestures for her to listen to Bellan.

“Well…he’s a Sith…sorry Arlie…A Dark Sith.” Bellan tells them, everyone looks to Obi who continues looking just as calm as before.

“I spent a little too much time in Sidious’ company after Arl died.” He says as though that explained it all.

“What was your…his…uh, the Sith side of you’s name?” Garen asks, Mic hits him over the back of the head, “Ow! What? I’m curious!” he defends.

“It’s pretty dark.” Bellan warns them but looks to Obi. “And unless we wish to be dealing with him, I’m not going to say it.  It was a good thing Obi-Wan warned me to restrain him for the session or…things could have been…bad.”

“Yes, there is something else though.” Obi-Wan tells them sounding slightly unhappy.

“What?” Mace asks wondering what the hell else there could be.

“I think we should bring him out.  For one it needs to happen so that he can fully reintegrate but also, there are some previous memories of this…Sith’s…that are from his time with Sidious.  Memories Obi-Wan cannot access without him taking over.  From what little I gathered, it seemed relevant.” Bellan explains.

“Relevant how?” Arl asks.

“Well, I did not notice it until after Obi-Wan had control but…he called him ‘Lord Wrath’ not ‘Lord Sidious’.”

“Is there anything besides the Disassociation and the PTSD?” Qui-Gon asks already not liking this conversation.

“A history of suicidal tendencies, he’s a moody son of a bitch but I think that is more personality than psychological damage.  Also, insomnia.  And he needs to be reminded that he no longer has arthritis so that he moves normally and not like he still has it.  Otherwise he’s going to cause it several decades early.” Bellan finishes.

“I have the memories of an old man, don’t act so surprised.  Arthritis is a thing.” Obi-Wan defends at Xanatos’ concerned look.

“ _So_ not what that look was for.” Xan replies disbelievingly.

“Okay so, Bant, Tahl, Dooku, and Xanatos are going to Theed.  We are interviewing a Dark Sith and Anakin set the creche on fire.” Arl sums up.

“HE WHAT?!” Obi-Wan yells.

“Someone was being a dick about him being a slave, another kid tried to defend him, that kid started getting beaten, Ani lost his temper and a bed spontaneously combusted.” Arl says defending her brother.

“Better than the time he melted my lightsaber when he was a teenager.” Obi-Wan muses.

 

An hour later and they’d worked out a schedule for Arlie and Obi-Wan’s classes along with travel plans for the four going to Theed.  It had also been decided that Bellan would evaluate Arl as well.

After the meeting, Garen and Arlie decided to visit the creche.  The second they arrived Tilli was at Arlie’s side along with Roland.

“Master Aa!” They cried happily. “We was so scared about you.” Roland tells her, she hugs them both.

“I am all right young ones.” She tells them.

“We know, the force told us, but it was still scary.” Tilli told her.

“Arlie!” Anakin yells seeing his sister and sprinting over to hug her, she picks him up happily before passing him to Garen when requested.

“You two know each other?” Master Penn asks confused.

“Arlie’s my big sister.” Ani states proudly, she boops his nose making him giggle.  Tilli begins pulling on her leg so she lifts her into her arms, once settled she moves the other arm to put around Roland’s shoulders and pull him in close so he did not feel left out.

“You’re his sister?” One of the initiates his age asks surprised.

“Yes Wilta.” Arl tells the boy recognising him from one of her many trips.

“You know him?” Anakin asks surprised.

“I know most of the initiates Ani, I spend a lot of time down here.”

“Why?” He asks.

“Well, otherwise I’d be spending all of my time with my Masters or Dooku and Xan.” She says in a mock sad tone that makes him laugh as do most of the initiates though a few still look surprised at the disrespect.

“Can you tell us stories again?” One of the kids asks, Arl looks to Jey-Sahl who nods for her to feel free to.  They all sit around in comfortable places, Garen watches her as intently as the initiates.  He had been down here a few times but never with Arl.

“Okay, who would you like to hear a story about?” Arl asks.

“Master Dooku?” Wilta suggests, Arl nods.

“All right, someone want to explain to Padawan Muln what we do here while I remember one?”

“Knight Aa tells us true stories of times when Masters and Knights mess up.”

“Actually, before you do, you never told us what happened on Telos IV, did you finish your investigation?” One of the older initiates ask surprising Garen, Arl talked about missions?  Was that legal?

“I suppose I haven’t.  All right, the long awaited story of Telos IV.  Then the time when Dooku didn’t know how to gift.” Arl offers, they all nod enthusiastically. “So Master Dooku and I returned to Telos IV, this time Quinlan Vos came with us.  When we got there, we went straight back to the building we had last been to before.  We searched the factory when I noticed a scuff mark that seemed suspicious to me.  Does anyone know why Quinlan Vos is so good at tracking and investigating things?”

“Psychometry, that’s when you touch an object and can see its history.” One of them says, Arl nods.

“I asked him to do so with the scuff mark.  He saw the perpetrator, but then he passed out and fell off of the beam we were standing on.  I caught him with the force and lowered him down to where Dooku was.  He took Quin back to the ship while I went to deal with the government, that…did not go so well.  I am not really welcome on Telos anymore.”

“Is that it?” one of the initiates asks, after all the build up it was a bit anti-climactic.

“Of course it isn’t, when are things ever that easy?  No, when Quinlan woke up he felt very ill.  We began heading back here when we realised we never found the reason why the bombings had been placed or why the bad people were there to begin with.  We returned to the factory one final time however we forgot to inform the Council about us returning.  Now, I want you all to take what happened next as a warning to _Always_ _inform the council_ to any changes in plans.  No one heard from us for three days.  Half of that was travel time, but a day and a half of it we had been captured by the one who planted the bombs.  No one knew where to look since we did not tell the council we were returning and because we weren’t welcome anymore, the government of Telos IV did not know we had returned.  Quin, Doo, and I have no memory of that day and a half.  The last thing we remember is seeing the perp in front of us, then the factory was on fire and we were running away from it.  Or I was dragging Doo away and Quin was getting the ship ready.”

“You were dragging Master Dooku?  Was that when he lost his leg?” Anakin asks, Arl nods.

“He lost half of his leg, Quinlan fractured and dislocated his shoulder.  I broke my wrist and all of us were covered in burns from the fire.  Mine were the worst.” Arl says lifting her sleeves to show everyone.

“Cool! Can we touch it?” One of the older ones asks.

“Skara!” Master Penn admonishes sounding embarrassed.

“Sure.” Arl answers though, a few ran their hands over the bumpy and taut skin.

“Did it hurt?” Tilli asks.

“Yes, it did.”

“But you are great at healing, why didn’t you heal yourself and the others?”

“Do you guys remember when I showed you how I make light using force-magic?” They nod as one, “You remember how I said a lot of it was the pattern I move my hands and finger in?” They nod again, she gestures to her hands and they see the scars extending all the way down her fingers.

“You couldn’t move your hands.” Skara realises, Arl shakes her head sadly.

“But that shouldn’t have healed by now.” Roland says furrowing his brow in thought.

“I have been instructing a Padawan training to be a healer to heal like I do.  She has not quite learnt to properly yet and this was the best she managed.  Still, I am not in pain and I am fully functional as are Quinlan and Dooku so none of us will complain.”

“You don’t remember how any of it happened?” Arl shakes her head.

“So, Dooku and gifts.” Garen says after a few moments of silent thought.

“I think we all know that Master Dooku is not the most social person sometimes.  But he and I have always been quite close, so when he had to buy a gift for a friend of his he came to discuss it with me.  The poor guy was panicking, he’d been trying for weeks to work out what to buy for his friend, he was supposed to be giving it that night so he’d swallowed his pride to come ask me for help.  We talked about some other stuff for a while because we got distracted but that’s not important.  I gave a suggestion, but he had very little time.  So, within two hours, he went to the lower levels of Coruscant, found a shop we weren’t sure still existed, hoped that they had what he wanted and made it back in time to meet his friend. Naturally I pester him about it for the next few days while he is a meanie and refuses to tell me.  Eventually he admits it went well except the second he mentioned he had a gift, his friend looked at him, dead in the eyes and asks, ‘How long did you wait to ask Padawan Aa for help?’.” Arl tells them, everyone laughs.  The initiates caught Arl up on what had been happening while she was unconscious and got advice on their current work.  They separated as everyone decided to do work while Arl was there to help them.  It was three hours later that they all sat together again, Garen was having a great time.

“So, what’s going on now?” Kylara asks.

“Well Kyla, now that the old writing has been translated into Basic more or less accurately, the team is looking for more material.  It did not give us as much information as we hoped so we need to find something to explain the first thing.”

“That’s annoying.” One of them comments.

“Quite, on the other hand, the boy from Telos that had been influenced by the bad people is now completely free of it.”  The kids cheered.

“How is your friend’s crush going?” One of them asks, several of the little boys said ‘ewww’ but 90% of the room seemed interested in the answer, including Master Penn.  Arl always left names out of those kinds of stories so Jey-Sahl felt it was not an invasion of privacy to be caught up in the tales she tells.

“Growing, quite fast now that he’s getting older.” Arl says with a sigh.

“I still do not understand how someone can have a crush on their Master.” Wilta says with a grossed out look on his face.

“It is surprisingly common among Padawan’s, especially those with relatively young Masters, not that this one is, but that’s beside the point.”

“Did you ever have a crush on Master Windu or Master Giiett?” Garen laughs at the initiate’s question even while cringing at the grossness.

“Gods no, but neither of them are really my type.  Plus, they are waaay too old.  Remember that most of my friends are quite a bit older than me.” Arl reminds them.

“What do you mean not your type?” One of the younger boys asks, Arl hesitates as Master Penn starts laughing when she looks to her for help.

“You got yourself into this, you can deal with it.” Jey-Sahl tells her.

“So…many cultures have different views on love and relationships, the Jedi for instance, admonish it and all attachments though many Jedi ignore that part, they just keep it behind close doors and do not let it interfere with their jobs.  With these cultures people are raised to believe different things and to like different things.  Sometimes people ignore it and decide to love whoever they want.” Arlie begins explaining.

“You’re one of those people, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And on this day, no one was surprised.” Dionadair says, several snickers are heard.

“ _Anyway_ , my home planet, there was a religion, or a few actually, that believed love should be between a man and a woman.  Those were supposedly the only two genders on the planet, there were more but these religions do not recognise that.  Anyway, I decided that for me, love would be between a woman and a woman.” Arlie finishes, they seem to understand, Jey-Sahl looks extremely impressed with her, it may have started off awkwardly but it ended quite eloquently.  She fought back the urge to clap.

“So, you don’t have a crush on either of your Masters because they are not girls?”

“Well that is not the only reason…” Arlie begins but gets cut off.

“If they had surgery for some reason and became girls, would you love them like that then?  If they were Meeka Giiett or Macey Windu?”

“This derailed quickly.” Garen comments, his voice and eyes filled with amusement.

“I’ll say.” Micah says, everyone looks to the side to see him standing there with Qui-Gon and Tahl.  Qui-Gon was red with the effort not to laugh while Tahl was laughing so hard it was silent.

“Master, your timing is brilliant, would you like to join the conversation of reasons why Arl Aa does not have a crush on either of her Masters?  We were just about to hear if that would change should either you or Mace get sex-changes at any point in the future.” Garen says, Qui-Gon begins losing it and has to walk away, kind of whimper/whine/laughing-ish.

“I think it is in my best interests to walk away now, but for the record, I’d make a great woman.” Micah says before walking out, Tahl continues to die in the hallway as she follows after him, eventually they hear a very loud laugh as Qui loses the last of his control.  Arl is hiding her face in her hands by this point as half the room laughs at her and the other half look on in pity.

“So your friend with the crush.” Skara says offering her an escape.

“My friend with the crush, it’s growing, uncontrollably.”

“Well he’s legal in two years, wait and see what happens?” Bhaille suggests, Arl nods in agreement.

“Legal for what?” Anakin asks confused.

“Intimacy.” Roland replies, Garen laughs again as many in the room look surprised that the three-year-old had understood.

“There’s an age limit on that on Coruscant?” Anakin asks curiously.

“There is on every planet.” One of the older kids replies.

“Not on Tatooine.” Anakin tells them, they seem surprised.

“That’s because there are no laws on Tatooine.” Garen tells them.

“Well, not for the freemen.  There are for slaves.” Arl informs them.

“If your brother was a slave does that mean you were?”  Arl nods.

“But I thought slaves had the will to fight beaten out of them when they were kids.” Someone says, Garen holds Anakin tighter protectively.

“That’s not true!” Anakin refutes immediately, Arl puts a hand up to quiet him.

“Some slaves are treated terribly from birth and never learn to fight back, some do lose that will over the years.  We were lucky, we have a mother who taught us to keep fighting.” Anakin smiles warmly at her.

“Sometimes I think you took that lesson a little too seriously.” Garen comments to break the tension, everybody laughs as Arlie glares at him.

“You suck.”


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It has been a year since Arlie, Dooku and Quinlan ventured through the mindscape to save Xanatos.  Arlie and Obi-Wan are no longer giving lessons having taught all they know to others who are now teaching.  Instead they have focused their efforts inwards, to heal themselves.  They have not spoken with Obi-Wan’s Sith yet.  They decided they would not subject him to it until it was their only way of getting more information, Arlie’s evaluation was also still pending since Bellan felt she could not do it.  Apparently, Arlie was too ‘reticent’ and skilled at ‘changing the direction of conversation to things other than herself’.  All in all, it had been a sadly unproductive year.

“All right, Arlie, it’s been a year.  That’s long enough.  Now, go get your evaluation done and kriffing work with her.” Obi-Wan pleads, Arl ignores him as they wait for the transport to land.  Eventually those they are waiting for step out.

“Obi-Wan!” Owen Lars yells as he gets off the transport and runs straight for him, hitting several people and yelling out sorrys before leaping at his older brother.

“Hey Kiddo, how you doing?”

“Better now, I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He holds his baby brother close, the kid was a year and a half older than Anakin, but seeing as events transpired in the last timeline to make Anakin mature much faster, though not at all in some ways, Arl had never quite gotten it straight in her head.  Now though, now it was different. “Hey Dad.” Obi-Wan says seeing his father finally reaching them and hugging him around the arm full of nine-year-old he has.

“Obi-Wan, it is good to see you.  You look well.” Cliegg says seeming happy as he looks his son over.  Historically they don’t have the greatest relationship, but Obi-Wan had gotten back in regular contact with them a year ago and eventually told them if they ever wanted to visit, they could stay at the temple for free though only for about a week.  That had been a few months before Cliegg had planned the trip and now here they are.

“This is my good friend Arl Aa, Arlie, this is my father Cliegg and my baby brother Owen.” He introduces, Arl holds her hand out for Owen first who shakes it happily.

“Nice to meet you Miss Aa.”

“Please, call me Arlie, it is nice to meet you too.  Obi’s told me a lot about you.  And you Sir Lars.” Arl says turning her attention to Cliegg and holding out her hand.  He shakes it smiling warmly.

“Well, I apologise Miss Aa, he has not mentioned you, but he does not talk about his life as a Jedi much.” Cliegg says awkwardly, Arl smiles.

“Well then, I suppose this will be an enlightening week for you.  Obi wanted to take you on a tour around the temple and asked I go with you, if that is agreeable for you?” Both Lars men nod so Arl smiles and leads them back.  Obi-Wan lets out a nervous breath glad it was going well so far.  He had no idea how happy Cliegg had been when Obi-Wan introduced them, he called him dad but when introducing, it was either ‘his adoptive father’ or ‘dad’, neither of which upset him, but father, to Obi-Wan, meant including him in Obi-Wan’s culture as well as surrounding himself in Cliegg’s.  It probably did not seem like a big deal to Obi-Wan, but to Cliegg, he felt like his son was truly that in his own eyes as well.

“Obi, Obi, Obi, Obi.” Anakin chants as he runs down the corridor towards them. “Obi guess what, guess what!”

“Ummm, you got a pet turtle who has a purple tongue that stains everything it licks and Dooku is walking around with purple hair because it tried to eat him?” Obi-Wan asks earning weird looks from everyone around.

“No silly!  I finished C3PO and my teacher said it was so good he was gonna recommend me for the big kids mechanical classes!” Anakin tells him happily jumping up and down giddily.

“That’s great Ani!” Obi-Wan says proudly, “Hey Ani, wanna meet some cool people?” The boy nods excitedly, “This is Owen and Cliegg Lars, my brother and father.”

“Why do they have a different last name?” Anakin asks curiously.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi is the name Dad gave me when I joined the Jedi.”

“Like Arl Aa?” Anakin asks looking to Arlie who nods. “So, what’s your real name?”  Cliegg freezes, unsure how well Obi-Wan would take the question, to his surprise his son smiles.

“Obi-Wan Lars.”

“Wizard, there’s a farm on Tatooine owned by the Lars’.”

“Yes, that’s mine.” Cliegg tells him, Anakin’s eyes widen.

“You’re from Tatooine too?”

“I am not from there but I live there.”

“That’s like my Mum except she was a slave like me and Arlie.”  Cliegg looks surprised so Arl decides it is time to step in.

“This is my little brother, Anakin Skywalker.  He has not quite learnt what the purpose of a brain to mouth filter is.”

“Mum says it is bad to lie.”

“Editing what you are saying to a more appropriate thing is not lying it is having good social skills.”

“Well not everyone can be you Arls.” Arl just huffs not wanting to start an argument in front of Obi-Wan’s family. Obi-Wan puts Anakin down, the boy smiles at Owen.

“Wanna play tag with me and my friends?” The seven-year-old asks.

“Can I Dad?” Owen asks, Cliegg looks to Obi-Wan who nods.

“Sure.”

“Yay!” Both boys say before running off together.

Obi-Wan and Arlie give Cliegg a tour before taking him to the commissary for lunch, he was substantially more comfortable at this point and was very happily taking in this new side to Obi-Wan he had not seen before, and yet something was wrong.  Cliegg may have only met Obi-Wan when he was eight, but he knew his son.

“Arlie, have you seen your brother?” A woman comes and asks Arl.

“Yeah he went to play tag a few hours ago so I assume he either still is or is napping somewhere.  Oh Mum, this is Cliegg Lars, Obi-Wan’s dad.”

“Pleasure to meet you Sir Lars, you have an amazing son.  You must be very proud.” The woman says smiling, “I am Shmi Skywalker.”

“The pleasure is all mine Lady Skywalker, your daughter is quite lovely as well.  She and Obi-Wan have been showing me around since my youngest ran off with Anakin.”

“Ah yes, Owen right?  Obi has mentioned you both before.”

“Do you want to join us Shmi?” Obi asks, Shmi looks to Cliegg who smiles.

“You are most welcome to.” He says, Shmi takes a seat.

“Then I’d love to.  Now Obi, why didn’t you mention your family was visiting?  We could have made dinner.” Shmi admonishes teasingly, Obi blushes slightly.

“Well, I was thinking tomorrow night when everyone is at Arlie’s place, if Dad wants to, he, Owen, and I could come along and you, Mic, and I could make the pasta dish everyone loves.” Arlie immediately perks up.

“Pasta dish?” She says, Cliegg chuckles at her along with the other two, it was ridiculously easy to be comfortable around that girl.

“Your mother’s recipe?” Shmi asks, Obi nods before turning to his father.

“You remember that pasta thing Mum used to make whenever I was able to come home?”  Obi-Wan asks, Cliegg feels his eyes watering but fights back the tears, they are of happiness.  He had never heard Obi-Wan refer to them all as his family so easily and it truly touched him.

“Yes of course, she always made heaps hoping for left overs.”

“But the more she made the more we ate.” Obi says laughing. “So, what do you think, do you want to go to the dinner?  It’s just a casual meet up with a bunch of people we are close with and probably the best opportunity for you to meet them.”

“If it is not an imposition.”

“Believe me, the second they know you are here, they will insist you come along.” Shmi tells the man, hearing it from another non-Jedi made him feel more comfortable and nodded to Obi-Wan who smiles happily, he knows he made the right decision.

“You are a complete moron!” They suddenly hear quite loudly.

“ME? It was your fault!” Arlie drops her head to the table when she hears it.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors on who deals with it?” Arl offers Obi-Wan.

“Nuh-uh, I did it last time, your turn.” Arl rolls her eyes but moves to intervene between the two boys who had entered the room and were arguing in earnest.  The commissary seemed largely unsurprised but slightly wary of them until they saw Arl approach, they all went back to their food as though knowing it would be quickly dealt with.  She put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat expectantly.

“Arlie.” Both boys says guility, “Heeeey.” One of them says earning an eyeroll from the other.

“What is going on?” Arlie demands impatiently.

“No, nothing.” The older of the two says quickly earning a suspicious look from the girl as the younger boy put his arm around the other’s shoulder and smiled.

“We’re just being best friends having a little tiff over nothing, just the usual, we’re gonna go…be best buds…doing the usual.” He says turning to leave.

“Stop.” Arl says, they freeze, “Turn.” They do, “Explain.”

“It was my fault.” They both say at the same time.

“This will be interesting.” Obi-Wan says to his father and Shmi.

“Don’t tell my Master?” The older requests, Shmi and Obi-Wan flinch.

“Oh, shiiit they are going to die.”

“Language Obi-Wan.” Shmi tells him disapprovingly.

“Sorry Shmi.  But they are.”

“Oh yes.  That boy is Knight Xanatos Du Crion, his Master, Dooku, is known for being a bit of a hard-ass.  Pardon my language but it is the most apt description.” Shmi says, “He’s not really so bad when he loosens up, though he does so mainly with his partners, but if they’ve done something and he is who they are worried about, it is not going to be fun when he finds out.” She tells Cliegg who nods.

“Who is the other boy?”

“My friend Garen, he and Arlie have the same Masters so they’ve known each other since Garen started his padawanship.  Xanatos is the one who brought Arl into the Order so they’ve all known each other for years.  Xan and Garen have an interesting relationship to say the least.” Obi-Wan tells him.

“YOU WHAT?!” Arl screeches when Garen whispers something to her. She looks around wildly before pulling them to the side of the room and speaking in frantic whispers for a few moments before the two boys run out looking chastised but hopeful.  Arlie heads back to the table saying what he assumes is some colourful cursing in another language.

“Language.” Shmi says, Arl looks confused.

“You can’t even understand me.”

“That does not mean I do not know what you are saying young lady.”

“Sorry Mum.”

“Why are you cursing in Old Sith?” Obi-Wan asks sounding amused.

“They broke his favourite teapot.”

“Oh dear.” Shmi says giving Cliegg the impression that the man in question was very attached to the teapot.

“Could they buy another one before he notices?” Cliegg asks hesitantly, Obi-Wan shakes his head.

“It was bought for him by my Master who was his Padawan at the time.  Well freshly Knighted.  Master Dooku and Master Qui-Gon had a rather…difficult, padawanship.  So when Master Qui-Gon went on his first solo mission and brought back this teapot from the planet and gave it to Master Dooku as a thank you for his lessons, it meant a lot.  Apparently, there was something in particular that Master Qui-Gon was very stubborn about and Dooku forcing him to learn it saved his life.  The teapot was some old thing between the two of them that made it even more meaningful.” Obi-Wan tells his dad.

“So basically they’re scre…um…in a jam.” Cliegg asks, editing his words in deference to Arl’s perceived age, even if it was becoming apparent to him that she was oddly mature for her age.

“Yes, except, I know where they can get one that looks exactly the same on Coruscant so I sent them in that direction.” Arl says.

“It was an old relic, only one made, from a culture that despised 90% of the Republic including the entire planet of Coruscant…why is there one here and how do you know where to find it?”

“When will you learn Obi, I know everything.”

 

The next night Arl shows up at the rooms Cliegg and Owen are staying in to bring them to her quarters, Obi-Wan had to go early to help Shmi and someone named Mic cook the food so Arl had offered to get them.

“You seem nervous.” Arl says as they walk away from their quarters.

“I’m sure you’re aware that Obi-Wan and I have not always been extremely close.” Cliegg begins carefully, Arl nods, “He’s been so good since we’ve been here.  I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise that.” He explains as Owen runs ahead, occasionally running back so that he doesn’t get lost before running ahead again.

“Obi-Wan’s seen a lot of things in his life, things he should not have had to see.  Something happened a year ago and it changed him, made him realise what is truly important.  He loves you, and Owen, and his mother.  You will not do anything that will change that, he just wants to be a bigger part of both your lives.” Arlie says.

“And I in his.” He tells her, they are silent as they ride the elevator. “Neither of you ever told me, how did you two meet?”

“Through Garen originally, we did not really get to know each other well until Master Qui-Gon took him as his Padawan, he’s a good friend of mine.”

“Will he be here tonight? I have never actually met him.”

“Oh, Obi did not mention that.  He will not be, he was called on an emergency diplomatic mission a few days ago that he could not avoid.  Obi-Wan opted to stay behind for your visit.  I do not believe he told Qui that, he did not want him to feel guilty about missing your visit.” Arl tells him, he seems a little disappointed but understanding and proud that his son thinks of others so much.

“Why is the door open?”

“It’s always open, I never remember to close it, the habit caught on and now it’s tradition.” Arl explains as they enter.

“Owen! Cliegg.” Anakin says happily from his spot playing Sabacc on the floor with Garen.

“Hi Ani.” Owen says moving to join the boys, a dark skinned man about Cliegg’s age, possibly a bit younger, comes over.

“Cliegg this is Master Mace Windu, one of Garen and my Masters, Master this is Cliegg Lars.” Mace remembers to shake his hand instead of bow, Arl had mentioned that would make him uncomfortable.

“It’s good to meet you sir.” Mace tells him.

“And you Master Jedi.”

“Please, call me Mace.  We tend to leave titles at the door.” He says happily, “Can I get you anything?” He asks, Arl leaves the man in her Master’s capable hands as she moves to have a look at how the game is going.

“Garen one day you need to learn how to actually play this game.” Arl tells him.

“One day I will meet someone who is actually any good at teaching me.” He retorts.  A while later the food comes out as do Obi, Shmi, and another man Cliegg realises must be Mic.  A little while later Xan shows up with an older man and a man a little older than Xanatos himself.

“Cliegg, that there is Master Dooku.” Shmi says gesturing to the older man, Cliegg thinks he can see what they meant about him appearing rather stern.  Or at least he does until the other man says something and Dooku teasingly mocks him for it, Mic says something and soon Dooku and Mic are bantering about something while the younger man stands and watches his handiwork.

“Who’s that?” Cliegg asks looking at the other man.

“Quinlan Vos, he, Dooku, and Arlie are a team on most missions.  They actually got back from one a day before you showed up, so this is the first time they’ve all been in the same place since.  There will probably be questions about it during dinner and some insane story since their missions never just work.”

“All three of them have burns, did that happen on a mission?” He asks, he had noticed Arlie’s at the commissary yesterday when she reached for some food and her sleeve pulled up. Quinlan’s he could vaguely see on his face and the back on his neck, Dooku’s was only noticeable when he leaned forward to reach some salad and the hollow of his neck was visible.

“Yes, however I would refrain from asking about it.” Shmi suggests, he nods grateful for the warning as they join the rest of them at the table.

Sure enough, after only a few minutes, Anakin turns to his sister.

“So how long before things went wrong?” he asks.

“Anakin, do not assume something went wrong, your sister and her partners are all perfectly capable Jedi.” Shmi feels the need to say despite Dooku’s immediate groan at his question letting her know it had not been long.

“Please don’t get her started again.” Dooku pleads, but it was too late.

“Oh it was a new kriffing record.” She says heatedly glaring at Vos.

“I said I was sorry, how many times must I say I am sorry?”

“Depends, how many I’m sorrys will it be before our ship magically uncrashes?”

“Hang on, do you mean to tell me your mission screwed up before you even landed?” Garen asks laughing.

“Yes, our pilot forgot the landing code so we got shot down and lost in the bloody jungle.”

“Only you Vos, only you.” Mic says teasingly, Quinlan rolls his eyes.

“Did you succeed in your mission at least?” Mace asks, Dooku shakes his head.

“No, but that surprisingly was not Quinlan’s fault.  There were pirates and an uprising and ruins and a jungle lab and it got very complicated very quickly, sufficed to say we did not solve the crime they brought us there for, negotiations for entry to the Republic never took place and finally, Arlie got us banned from another planet.” Dooku concludes.

“Sounds like you all fucked up equally then.” Obi remarks.

“Language Obi-Wan.” Mace, Dooku, Shmi, and Cliegg all tell him.

“Since when do you swear so much?” Cliegg asks, Obi-Wan had never been one to express anger or frustration with words so him picking up the habit seemed odd.

“I had this friend, he got in a lot of trouble that I had to deal with. Immense frustration became commonplace until he grew out of it…which he did not.” Obi-Wan explains, Arl snickers.

 

 

The next morning Cliegg and Owen had been invited to breakfast with Shmi and Obi-Wan.  Obi was staying with Shmi while his Master was away, although he did not need babysitting, he enjoyed the company.  Anakin was in the creche and Arlie lived with her Masters despite being knighted.  Then again, both Xanatos and Obi-Wan were knighted and they still lived with their Masters.

The four were enjoying breakfast when the door chimed, Shmi went to go answer it.

“Obi, it’s for you, please come in.” Shmi says to whoever is at the door.

“Thank you Shmi, I apologise for the early hour but I just got back.” A very tall man with shoulder-length mostly brown but greying hair says.

“Master?” Obi says sounding confused but happy as he walks over and bows respectfully before the man, presumably Qui-Gon Jinn, pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair affectionately.

“Hello Padawan, I heard you had guests that I was rather interested to meet so I had Master Koon replace me.”

“Master, that mission was important.” Obi-Wan protests immediately.

“Not as important as you Obi-Wan, I’d have thought you’d have learnt that by now.” He says with a smile, Obi-Wan turns back to introduce them allowing Cliegg to see his happy smile.  It was obviously important to his son that he meet his Master so Cliegg walks around the table to see him and bows respectfully in the way he had seen other Jedi.

“Master Jinn I presume?” The man bows back before holding a hand out to shake.

“Yes, Cliegg Lars?” Cliegg nods, “An honour to meet you sir, Obi-Wan speaks very highly of you.  And of you young Sir Lars.” Qui-Gon says kneeling before Owen who has wandered closer, curious about the newcomer.

“Hello Master Jedi.” Owen says smiling wide.

“Please, my name is Qui-Gon.”

“I’m Owen.” He says holding out his hand, Qui-Gon takes it and shakes his hand.

“You’ve got a good grip there Owen, it’ll serve you well in life.” The boy looked positively ecstatic at his words.

“Qui, would you care to join us for breakfast?  There’s tea.” Shmi says smiling, Qui-Gon’s eyes light up at the mention of the beverage, it made Cliegg see how tired the man looked.  He had said he had just returned from a mission and Arlie had said it was an emergency one.  Cliegg does not think he has slept much since he was called away and had now rushed back, mission incomplete and immediately come to meet him for the sake of his son who did not even ask him to.  Yes, Cliegg likes the man a lot.

They talk throughout breakfast, pleasant conversation as Qui-Gon tells them stories of Obi-Wan since he met him four years ago, Cliegg tells stories of Obi-Wan from when he met him three years before that.  Cliegg does not mention that part, unsure how much they knew.  However, the way they avoid asking questions about when Obi-Wan was very young makes him think they are aware.

Obi-Wan for his part tries to steer the conversation away from the embarrassing topics both men seem to try and centre on.  If one thing became clear to Cliegg throughout the breakfast, it was that Obi-Wan was absolutely smitten with the man, and Qui-Gon was entirely oblivious.  Cliegg was not sure how he felt about that to begin with, Qui-Gon was about his age if not older.  But he cared for Obi-Wan deeply, Cliegg decided that no matter what happened over time, so long as Obi-Wan was happy, he would be happy too.

 

A few hours later Cliegg was wandering the halls aimlessly while he waited for his son to finish checking the thing he had to check that was a confidential Jedi thing.  Owen had run off, no doubt creating mayhem with Anakin again, then Cliegg saw Arlie’s Master, Mace, and Cliegg realised why the name had sounded so familiar.

“Sir Lars.” Mace greeted kindly.

“Please, it’s Cliegg.  Especially to my son’s Uncle.” He says, Mace smiles warmly.

“I was wondering if you knew about that.”

“It didn’t click until I saw you just now.”

“I do hope you don’t have a problem with my being around your son?” Cliegg was somewhat surprised and happy that he considered him to be Obi-Wan’s father.

“So long as you are nothing like your brother it’s fine.” Cliegg says immediately, he notices Mace stiffen slightly and regrets his harsh words, “I’m sorry, that was callous of me.”

“It was well deserved.  I do want you to know that had I known what happened sooner, I would never have left Obi-Wan alone.”

“He told me soon after he moved in that his Jedi Uncle had been on a mission of some kind.  I’ll admit I was both worried and hoping you’d come for him.  I did not want to lose my child but he also needed some kind of familiarity to help him through his grief.  It’s part of why my wife and I decided to have him trained to be a Jedi, that and he wanted to.  We also could not get him the same kind of training he had been receiving and we didn’t want him to somehow get hurt because he couldn’t control or whatever.” Cliegg says not really understanding much about the Jedi, Mace got the picture though.

“Well, Obi-Wan turned out brilliantly so I suppose you made the right decision.  I am glad you are his father though, he loves you and looks up to you a lot.”

“I’m just a farmer.” Mace smiles a knowing smile.

“You’re a good man, that’s worth a lot more than a fancy job title.”

 

A while later Tahl enters the council chambers with Dooku and Bant, ready to address the council.

“We are out of options Masters, unless we get knew information we have nothing else to go on.  We need to speak to the Sith.” She tells them, none of them had wanted it to come to this.

“We should wait for his family to leave at least.” Dooku says, everyone agrees with that and so the meeting is adjourned, the air filled with a perverse curiosity.

 

Soon enough, the trip was over.  The night before they left Mace and Mic had hosted another dinner as a send off to them which gave them a chance to say goodbye.  Currently Arlie, Anakin, Shmi, Obi, and Qui-Gon were here to see them off.  After goodbyes and promises to keep in contact were exchanged, Obi-Wan hugged his brother goodbye before turning to his Dad and hugging him tightly.

“I love you Dad.” Obi says, it was the first time he had ever said that to Cliegg, he could not fight back the emotions anymore and felt tears stream down his face.

“I love you too my Son.” He replies clapping him on the back before letting him go.  They had to board the transport, the group waited until they were out of sight before beginning to head inside.

 

Hours later a meeting is called in the old meeting room.  The usual people in attendance as Tahl tells them all what she had told the council days ago.  Obi-wan was tense but agreed and so everything was set up.  They were in the holding cell, Bellan and Terza ready to intervene if necessary though Bellan was also necessary to trigger the shift.  Arlie would be the only one inside the cell, asking the questions.  Everyone else was watching from the meeting room through surveillance cameras.  Arl had a comm piece in her ear to enable them to relay questions should it be necessary.  They all knew should something go wrong she could subdue him, but it never hurt to be thorough and so Terza had knockout gas handy that she could release inside the cell and render both Obi-Wan and Arleia unconscious if the need arises.

“Don’t worry Obi, it’ll be okay.” Arl reassures before taking her seat in front of the bed he sat on against the wall, her chair was in the middle of the room so there was a bit of distance between them.  “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He replies, she nods to Bellan who presses the speaker button from outside the cell.

“His name is Darth Sohn.”

“It’s not very original.”

“And yet it works.” Sohn says looking at her with yellow eyes.

“We need to know what you know of Wrath’s possession of your father.” Arl tells him not beating around the bush.

“Why would I turn against my Master?” He asks, Arl gives him a calculating look as she hears surprised gasps through the comm piece.  Whatever the others had been expecting, it wasn’t that.

“Revenge.” He looks at her in a way that makes her feel as though she were his prey, then he smiles in the least reassuring way possible.

“Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse.  His soul needs to be ripped from my Father’s body and contained.”

“How?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not the Jedi are willing to evolve. Only the creator of the order can do it, she will only return when a bridge between our two people is forged.  But more importantly she can only do it when the force is in balance, with the light and the dark working in tandem to strengthen her, give her the power she needs to fix what is against the very laws of nature.  The force is on your side with this, will the Jedi be?”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, do you remember what Tyranus once told you?  That all sentient beings have a weakness?  That the force does?”

“Yes, of course.”  She replies with a frown, the simple sentence had weighed heavily on her mind for many decades, and damn didn’t that thought make her feel old.

“Lord Wrath found it, and he’s exploiting it.  If this is not dealt with by your twentieth birthday, the force will cease to exist, and all of reality along with it.  Good luck with that.” He says before laying back on the bed obviously done with the conversation.  A moment later Obi-Wan sat up, blue eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Please do not make me do that again.” He requests, Arl smiles sadly at him.

“Do not worry Little Obi, we won’t.”


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“What did he mean Wrath found the force’s weakness?” Bellan asks sounding terrified, after she and Terza had looked Obi-Wan over, everyone reconvened in the meeting room.  Obi had been granted the option of rest but didn’t think he could sleep right now anyway.

“I don’t know, and the thing about The Force and sentient beings?  Did that make sense to anyone?” Bant asks.

“Who the blasted hell was Tyranus?” Mic asks.

“That was the name I took up in the other timeline when I joined Sidious.” Dooku tells him, “I apparently said something about it.”

“Yes, you did, but not to me, to her.  She who has been oddly silent.” Obi-Wan says not looking away from Arlie who has not said a word, just sat in contemplative silence.

“We are talking about all of reality collapsing Arl, if you’ve got something to say, say it.” Garen tells her.

“Oh come on, you don’t really think Sidious can destroy the force can you?” Bant asks sarcastically.

“A bigger worry it is that go with it reality might.” Yoda says sounding genuinely worried. “Have the answers we do not, need more information we do.  Share you must.” He tells Arl, everyone looks to her, she continues staring at the table silently thinking for a few moments as she bites her lip and repeatedly taps her fingers on the table one at a time.

“You’re all focusing on the wrong part of the conversation.  He gave us a timeline, we fix this in time and we do not have to worry about what may or may not come after.” She tells them, “He said we had to bridge the gap, get both sides of the force working in tandem to help whoever this creator is.”

“Yes, but how do we do that?” Tahl asks, Arl looks thoughtful.

“Not all Sith are bad, but they do all use the dark side.  Perhaps we can use that.”

“Are you suggesting we find ourselves some Sith that are not ‘Dark Sith’ and ask them for help?” Quin asks knowing they already have it but not wanting to give Dooku away.

“Well Arl has two on our side anyway.” Mic points out, Qui-Gon looks at Dooku in alarm but Dooku is calm so he figures all is okay.  Quinlan does not miss the interaction, after the conversation in the healer’s wing last year, Quin’s been keeping an eye on him.  He’s narrowed it down to two options, either Qui knows about Dooku and is afraid his former Master will be found out, or, he is also a Sith.

“I shall not even ask, even so, will that be enough?  Two Sith is hardly a balance.” Plo tells them, Arl looks up from the table for the first time.

“Then we train more.” Dead silence.

“I’m sorry, what?” Shaak asks sharing everyone’s thoughts.

“A lonely little girl, lost in a brand new world with powers no one could imagine.  She did not want to be alone so she trained others to be like her and the Order of the Force was born.  Greed and fear corrupted the peace and soon her beloved order split in three, the third sect died off quickly but the others grew strong.  Only destruction can be while the order is split.  One day it will be reunited, that is when I will return young one, to help it reunite.  It must make its own mistakes if it is to learn from them.” Arl quotes, Yoda looks in her eyes for a long moment before a proud smile breaks out on his face, she’s no idea what that’s about.

“What’s that got to do with training Sith?”

“If we are to bridge the gap, we need to have enough of all three sects.  We have three who can train others to be Sith.”

“Three?  We can’t have mine teaching, he’s a Dark Sith!” Obi-Wan tells her.

“Yes, I am aware of that, but we can ask him not to teach them to be.”

“Oh, and he will listen, will he?” Tholme asks, “Quinlan remember a year ago when I said I’d get to know them before pronouncing them reckless?”

“Yep nope, you may have been right about that.”

“He will listen.” Obi tells them earning all eyes on him. “If someone gets in the way he’ll kill them sure, but he’s not going to turn on you guys.”

“Why?” Mace asks.

“Honour, and love.  He’s still me and I am him.  You guys are my kin and Sith or no Sith I would not ever turn against you guys.  Just think of it as me with sketchy as fuck morals.” No one even bothered with chastising his language.

“There are three sects, not two.” Kit reminds them all.

“So, what is the third?”

“Force-magic.” Garen says looking at Arl who nods, Mace suddenly remembers a conversation from three years ago.

_“you_ _’re dealing with the only force-sensitive in the universe that hates the force and thus avoids use of it in a fight unless absolutely necessary._ _”_

_“You_ _’re a Jedi master, how can you hate the force?_ _” Mace asks incredulously as they exit the elevator._

_“It brought me back here because it wants to be saved and I have no interest in saving it. All I want to do is save my family, and fix the order.  The fact that that may also save all of reality has no bearing on my decision to do so. I_ _’d have rather it just let me die honestly._ _”_

“You knew.” Mace says looking at her, “You’ve known all along, about the threat to the force.  That all of reality is in danger.” Everyone seems confused at him. “‘It brought me back here because it wants to be saved.’ You also said that doing so would save reality.” All look to her, she debates for a moment before something seems to change in her and she seems far older, they could truly see her age in that moment, and wisdom beyond even that.

“Has everyone in here heard of force-seers?” Everyone nods.

“Please tell me you are not one.” Kit requests not wanting the extra complication, she shakes her head.

“I am not.  Once upon a time I was kidnapped by who I thought were pirates.  While locked in a tiny room, a circle of swirling blue light appeared in front of me and I stepped through.  There I met a force-seer.  She trained me to use force-magic, taught me many things about the true nature of reality and much about the force as well.  I asked once where she learnt how to do this since she said the practice had died out.  The force had taught her, had told her that one day the Jedi would need to learn to do it, that it would save reality.  She realised that the Jedi of her time would not learn and trusted me with the job of making the Jedi ready to evolve so that when the time came, they would be willing to learn.” She tells them, Arl is pretty sure she never even told anyone that in the other timeline.

“And you are just now telling us this?” Qui-Gon asks incredulously.

“Bad stuff happened in the other timeline, I did not trust your ability to look past it and focus on what is actually important.  This will stop the Sith which will save the force and therefore reality, if we focus on the final part we will miss the first.”

“I suppose we have a habit of looking at the bigger picture and forgetting to break it down.” Tahl admits, Arl looks at her.

“I am forgetting something.” She says suddenly looking at the table, then to Obi. “What am I forgetting?” he looks confused. “No really, I’ve done the same thing, focused on the big issue and forgotten little things along the way.”  Obi-Wan looks around the room before his gaze lands on Micah and remains for a few moments with a puzzling look before turning back to Arl.

“Yinchorr, it should have been a month ago.”

“You mean the thwarted uprising?” Depa questions, Obi nods.

“Thwarted?” Arl asks surprised.

“Well, Qui-Gon was busy with this so we sent another team, they handled negotiations and stopped war.”

“Well thank fuck for that.” Obi-Wan tells them. “And we still have two years before Naboo. Okay so back to the training Sith thing.  We’ve three who can do that, one who can train in force-magic…”

“The third sect could not have just used force-magic.  There had to be more to it.  Sith and Jedi did not see a use for it and it died out but there had to be more to the break off of those people.” Arl says, Obi-Wan groans.

“You have spent thirty years studying this Arleia, how have you not worked this out?”

“Obi-Wan we have almost no record of that time, without speaking to someone who has lived it, there is little more I can do.”

“So let’s do that then.” Mic says.

“Mic, you do know this was thousands of years ago yes?” Tahl asks, Mic rolls his eyes.

“Yes, you do know the force is older yes?  We are Jedi, we confer with the force all the time.” He says with a pointed look to Arl who shakes her head.

“No.  I know what you are thinking, and no.”

“We need to bridge the gap between all three if we want to stop Wrath.”

“We will just have to find another way.”

“What are you two talking about?” Saesee asks annoyed.

“The force-seer I mentioned.”

“Oh, you said she was from the future yes?”

“Yes, so she is a child now and I will not bring a child into this and make her a possible target for the Dark Sith.  I’ve seen to many murdered as is.”

“What do you suggest then?” Mic asks frustratedly, she falls silent.

“Well… we know time travel is possible…” Xanatos says slowly, not 100% sure where he is going with this.

“Are you suggesting we go back thousands of years to find out what happened to the order of the force so that we can fix it because I started this off thinking you are crazy but now that I’ve said it aloud it actually makes sense.” Depa tells them.

“Except for the part where we do not know how to travel through time.” Mace points out.

“Well that is actually a relatively simple concept.” Arl tells them. “Time does not exist, it is merely a case of leaving reality and returning to a different point.”

“Oh, and how exactly does one leave reality?” Dooku asks sarcastically.

“The in-between.” Garen says remembering things Arl has told him.

“Come on guys this is ridiculous.  Garen do you remember the whole thing with the maps and roads and cars?” Arl asks him disbelievingly, he thinks for a moment before his eyes widen.

“We’d keep moving while you were gone.  Even if you came back at the same point there would still be a version of us living out a life without you.”

“Exactly.  One does not travel through time on a whim.”

“You’ve done it twice!” Mace replies, Arl shrugs.

“Not willingly.  I did not expect that to happen either time.”

“So we don’t do it on a whim, we plan it and we plan it well.  Down to the last detail.” Depa says, Arl thinks for a moment, looking back to the table contemplatively before nodding slowly.

“Okay, here’s how it is.  I will go back with Dooku and Quinlan, but only after we’ve sat down with the Sith and come to an agreement on training.  There is no point to fucking with timelines if you will not follow through with that.”

“This is even assuming the two other Sith agree to help us, it would mean revealing themselves to people known for hunting them down after all.” Eeth tells them.

“I’m sure we could convince at least one of them.” Dooku tells everyone.

“If reality breaks so do they, neither would refuse to save their own skin at the very least.” Qui-Gon adds, Arl smiles to herself.

“All we can do is ask.  Arl, when you speak with them.  Please take Dooku, I do not like the idea of you meeting with Sith on your own.  Supposedly on our side or not, you know what the dark side can do.” Mace says, Quinlan bites the inside of his cheek to keep from pissing himself laughing.

“The Chancellor has requested he sit in on future meetings, I agree with him that he being directly in the loop will only help our cause.” Qui-Gon tells everyone who nods.

“Discuss the matter of us having a sit down with the Sith with him.  It may not be the safest environment and we cannot allow him to be around such a major security threat.  Yet since none of this is officially happening I suppose he should really be the one to make the decision.” Mace replies.

 

They adjourn quickly after that.  Arl, Dooku, and Qui-Gon agreed to meet later that night on the upper levels of the temple where no one would be at 1st hour.  Arl arrives to see Qui-Gon already there.

“Dooku said he was going to bring Quinlan and Xan if it was okay with me, I figured they had the right to know first.”

“And Obi doesn’t?”

“Obi-Wan kissed me.” Qui-Gon replies awkwardly, Arl smiles amused by his embarrassment.

“And you…?” The older Master ducks his head in shame.

“Panicked.”  Arl sighs, “I mean, I uh, care about him.  A lot, but he’s, a child.  My Padawan, and it’s inappropriate and…”

“And he’s just turned eighteen so it’s legal and you have knighted him so it breaks no rules.”

“He doesn’t know I am a Sith, he won’t want to be with me after that.” Qui-Gon says sadly.  “Besides he’s young, what would he want with an old man like me?”

“Okay for starters, you aren’t that old.  He is about to find out anyway though I really think you should rethink telling him beforehand.  He loved you in the other timeline Qui, I know he and Ben are very different people, but Obi still has memories of that life.  He isn’t exactly as young as you’d think.  He may not be fifty-four but he certainly is not your average eighteen-year-old.  Why don’t you let him decide for himself what he wants instead of not even giving him the option?”

“I hate it when you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“And I always hate it.”

The others arrive soon after, Xanatos stopping dead as soon as he entered the room.

“I should have seen that coming.” He says looking at Qui-Gon, surprise and confusion mixed with hurt and acceptance.

“You didn’t warn him?” Quin asks Dooku.

“I didn’t warn you either.”

“Yes, but I had worked it out.”

“I did not know that.”

“So basically, you’re a dick.”

“Okay, break it up.  We can’t be here too long.” Arl tells the two of them, “Look I know what you both said during that meeting but are you actually willing to do this?  Out yourselves to everyone?”

“Arl I found out some very disturbing information today that shocked me to my core, nothing will ever scare and disturb me more than that.  I will be fine.” Qui-Gon replies, Arl looks confused. “You do not. Want. To know.”

“I mean now we _all_ do.” Quin says joining them where they are sitting on the floor, Xan and Dooku join him in doing so.

“Just something Ben did in the other timeline.  It’s…just…I mean…he slept with my Master.” Qui-Gon says quickly, Arl’s jaw drops, Dooku’s eyes widen, Quinlan pisses himself laughing while Xan looks as disturbed as Qui-Gon.

“When?” Arl asks unable to comprehend what she is hearing.

“During the war.”  Arl is halfway between angry and so very confused and just what the bleeding fuck.

“He slept with the leader of the Separatist Army.” She says slowly, “To be clear…consensually?”

“Arlie!” Dooku yells horrified before remembering they aren’t actually meant to be there and quieting himself, “I don’t care what version of me we are talking about, I’d never…do that.”

“Yes, but would you ever fuck Obi-Wan?”

“Gods no…oh I see your point now.”

“Master, to be clear, please do not ever have sex with my former Padawan.”

“I would not ever.” Dooku tells him honestly.

“I was under the impression you were into girls anyway.” Quinlan says surprised.

“How is that what you are focusing on?” Xan asks incredulously making Quin laugh again.

“Not that it is any of your business but I am.  Other me was clearly very confused about a lot of things and just…no.” Dooku says looking disturbed, Arlie laughs at it.

“You pout when your disgruntled.” She tells him.

“I do not.”

“You do, you spent half our time imprisoned on Telos IV pouting at the audacity of it all.” Quinlan reminds him laughing before stopping, “Oops.”

“Three seconds.” Arl says dangerously, Quin gets the point and starts talking quickly.

“That was the memory I got trapped in in Maul’s mind.  I saw everything that happened from his perspective, my own memories slowly came back to me after that.” Quin says, Arl looks murderous, Dooku is not impressed but his face softens quickly.

“You nearly killed yourself trying to get away from the memory of it.” Dooku says quietly, Quin nods suddenly looking terrified.  “We will deal with this later.  I am on board, it is long past time I stopped hiding.  However, if you decide not to, my Apprentice, I will not mention you.” Dooku tells Qui-Gon.

“That is so creepy to hear.” Xanatos says as a shudder runs through him, “Sorry just the last time I heard someone call someone that was Wrath speaking through me to Arl.”

“Yep I can see how that would be an uncomfortable memory.” Quin says.

“I am in, some things are more important than us, all of reality, definitely one of those things.”

“Obi-Wan is going to kill you Dooku.  I mean he’ll be pissed as fuck at Qui-Gon but I mean he will actually attempt to murder you again.” Quin points out.

“I will be taking everyone’s lightsabers at the beginning of the meeting, never fear.  None will be dying tomorrow.” Arlie promises.

“All right then, tomorrow the order finds out that Sith have been hiding in it for hundreds of years since Dooku joined.” Xan says earning a hit on the back of the head from his former Master.

“I am not that bloody old.”

“I mean…” Qui-Gon begins to say before Dooku hits him too.

“So violent, how did no one pick up on this before?” Quin jokes, they debate a lot about the codes, Quin is mildly disapproving of Dooku’s sithliness but at the end of it, they are still partners.

“Have you seen Yoda?” Dooku deadpans, everyone laughs at that for a moment.

They all leave soon, knowing that after tomorrow, everything would change…although technically it’s later the same day…

 

 

The next morning (or really later that same morning) Garen, Mace, and Micah wake to Arl drinking tea.  She knew she’d have to get up early anyway, given the time when she got back she decided it was not worth going to bed at all.

“So, I had an interesting conversation with Tahl yesterday.” Mic tells the others over breakfast.

“Oh?” Mace asks from beside him curious to where this is going, he had seemed rather distracted all night and kept tossing and turning in his sleep.

“She told me she had a problem, that she’d realised something about Dooku and Qui-Gon was going to hate her for it.”  Arl holds her breath at the words.  They were finding out today anyway but it would all go down much better if everyone heard it from them instead of finding out on their own as Quin and Xan had. “She has a crush on him.”

“On Qui-Gon? Coz I think Obi-Wan’s got dibs there.” Garen asks before he caught on, “Oh my gods, Master Tahl has feelings for Dooku?”

“This is high school on Earth all over again.” Arleia complains dropping her head into her hands.

“So, what’s she going to do?” Mace asks, everyone thought he was so stoic and detached, but he was a major gossip, the man knew most things going on in the temple, so whenever he found something he didn’t, he had to know more.

“She wants to talk to Qui-Gon about it before anything else, he’s one of her best friends so she thinks he deserves it.  I certainly agreed with her.”

“If it helps, he and his girlfriend broke up a few months ago so he’s single.” Arl says with a smile.

“ _Dooku_ had a _girlfriend_?” Garen asks surprised, she nods, “Damn.”

“Well while we are on the subject of breaking our friends trust by spilling their secrets, Obi-Wan kissed Qui-Gon.” Arl says deciding that acting like a teenager for a few moments would not be so bad.

“And?” Garen asks, he was way too invested in their relationship.

“And nothing, Qui panicked and came to me for advice.”

“Why you? I’m his best friend!” Mic whines teasingly.

“Hey, I’m a good friend too!  Besides, in a lot of ways I’ve known Obi the longest and am not in an, as of yet undefined while everyone is dying to know, relationship with his Uncle.”

“Well good because if you were we’d have to have words.” Micah tells her with a jokingly pointed look, she laughs, Mace sighs.

“You know Master, if you want that to stop, you could always just tell us what is going on with you guys.” Garen says to Mace who glares half-heartedly at him.  In truth, Arlie and Garen knew that their Masters were waiting for the order to be more stable before making anything official, but they all knew that as with many things lately, not being official does not mean it isn’t happening.

 

Two hours later everyone is in the meeting room bright and early, including the Chancellor.  They are waiting on Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan when Mace’s comm beeps.

“Where are you two?” Mace asks immediately.

“What is the protocol for Sith personality taking over but with no intent of harming anyone?” Qui-Gon asks curiously and sounding a tad nervous, Arl facepalms…fuck propriety.

“This is probably the safest place to have him anyway, just bring him down here.” Mace replies sounding tired despite it only being 8th hour.  Ten minutes later the door opens and the two enter, Obi-Wan’s hood up and gaze to the floor.  Once the door was closed he pulled his hood down allowing all to see the Sithly yellow eyes.  Dooku and Arlie exchanged nervous looks, knowing the likelihood of Obi-Wan murdering either he or Qui-Gon just went up tenfold.

“Obi-Wan, you look happy, had a good morning?” Arl says, he glares at her.

“Don’t call me that.” He tells her before sitting down.

“Actually we all should be, calling you by two names is not going to help the reintegration process Obi.” Bellan tells him, he rolls his eyes uncaring.

“Who was your sacrifice?” Arl asks suddenly, he snorts.

“Anakin, did I never tell you what happened on Mustafar?” Arl shakes her head. “I cut off three of his limbs and left him burning to death.  Sidious may have saved him but apparently it was enough.”

“You did what to my brother?” She says voice deadly.

“I fought him after he murdered younglings.” He replies without missing a beat, Arl backs off.

“Yes, I can see your point.”

“Can we just get on with this?” Xanatos asks impatiently, he was quite nervous on how this would go, as time went on it got harder to hide that.

“First, everyone hand over your lightsabers.” Arl says holding up a box, no one seemed inclined to do so. “Trust me.” Arl requests of Mace, they had remade the pact after he had wanted an explanation when she caved after he said those words, and so he hands his lightsaber over.

“No hesitation.”  Seeing Mace do it made others as well.

“Obi-Wan.” Arl requests.

“And if they attack?” Sohn asks testily, she looks him in the eyes calmly.

“I will be here, I still have my saber.” He glares at her but hands it over.  No one appeared happy with the situation at all.

“Okay now, Chancellor Valorum, I do not believe we have met.  I am Knight Arl Aa.  I just want to reassure you that you will be perfectly safe here no matter what happens.”

“I have to say, making them relinquish their weapons is not the most comforting move.” He tells her.

“A year ago, Arl sparred with everyone in this room except Terza, Eeth, Plo, Saesee, Shaak, Kit, Adi, and Tholme at once.  She beat us all.” Qui-Gon tells his friend.

“Now _that_ is comforting.” The man says with a smile.  “Well then, bring in the Sith?”

They had not discussed how this reveal was going to go so Arl went with her instinct to be dramatic.

“Actually, they are already in here.” Quinlan hides his snicker as Xan just shakes her head at her antics.

“I’m sorry what?” Obi-Wan says apparently having come back to himself at some point, everyone in the room was on edge.

“I did not become a Sith after the war started, it was long before that I’m afraid.” Dooku admits, several people subconsciously try to move away.  Obi-Wan’s eyes glow yellow despite him still being in control, then Dooku’s hand went to his throat as he struggled to breath, Arl picked up the datapad on the table beside her and threw it at Obi-Wan who stopped force-choking Dooku as he caught it.

“That was my datapad.” Garen says unimpressed, she called it back with the force, “Thank you.”

“How is your fucking datapad what you are focusing on right now?” Obi-Wan growls.

“Language padawan.” Qui-Gon tells him as Garen says, “I guessed it already.” Obi turned on his former Master, Arl thinks maybe chastising his language right now possibly hadn’t been Qui-Gon’s wisest decision.

“Did you know?!” Qui ducks his head in shame, “This was that damn secret? Your Master is a fucking Sith Lord?!”  Qui-Gon shakes his head.

“No, the secret was that I am too.” The room was silent as everyone processed the information.

“Well that one I did not guess, say anyone notice the other two people in here not looking surprised?” Garen asks.

“Yep.” Obi says through gritted teeth.

“So, let me get this straight, there have been two Sith in the Jedi temple and no one noticed?  How long?” Valorum asks the two men.

“Since I was a twenty.” Dooku tells him calmly.

“Why the fuck did you randomly decide one day, ‘hey you know that code I’ve sworn my entire life to uphold? Nah fuck it, Imma just go commit blasphemy under everyone’s noses and laugh when they don’t see it. Oh and, I’m going to take a promising initiate and make him something dark and twisted as well?’”

“Well obviously that is not how it happened Knight Kenobi.”

“Is Xan a Sith too?  Are you training him to be one?”

“Hey! Back off Kenobi.  I am not a Sith but may I remind you how many people these two have saved?  How many times Master Qui-Gon has saved you?  The amount of times they’ve been better Jedi than any of us?” Xanatos says in defence.

“That last one is really not a compliment Padawan.” Dooku says wincing slightly, Xan looks sheepish.

“A better person then.”

“I don’t know, Dooku still seems like a sarcastic ass to me no matter which way you look at it.” Quin says hoping to lighten the mood, it does not work.

“This is good news the way I see it.” The Chancellor tells them, “I believe we were all concerned about bringing Sith in and having them teach when they were strangers we couldn’t trust.  Now we know that we can trust them, that they are on our side and hold the same ideals that we do.”

“Not ideals but morals yes.” Qui-Gon amends, Obi-Wan suddenly thinks of something.

“But, Maul killed you?”

“Yes, that would have been the second part of Sidious’ revenge against me I’m afraid.  The first part being his manipulation of Xan.” Dooku tells him.

“And why does Sidious want revenge on you?” Mic asks.

“You killed him.” Mace says, everything falls into place for the others as well.

“Quinlan, I approve.” Tholme says looking at Dooku.

“I’m sorry you what now?” Quin asks confused, of all the things to convince his former Master, this does?

“I was concerned about them needlessly putting you in danger and leaving you to fend for yourself. Well one of them has lied to everyone to protect a Sith because he was more important than the code and the other killed a man to protect a child he did not know and went into the mind of people who wanted him dead to save Xanatos.  The killing I may not agree with but from his perspective it would have been perfectly reasonable.  My point is you’ve found yourself more or less under the protection of two people who will go to great lengths in order to keep you and everyone around them safe.  I won’t argue with that one, even if I do not approve of some life choices.” He explains, Dooku nods gratefully at him which he returns.

“Okay, Arl, Quinlan, Xan, how long have you guys known?” Tahl asks hiding the hurt she feels at one of her best friends having been lying to her for years.

“I found out when we went into the mindscape.” Quin says.

“Wrath spilled the beans when he called him his apprentice in the mindscape.” Xanatos says, Dooku’s expression darkens slightly at the memory.

“You aren’t though, right?” Garen checks.

“No, I am not.” Dooku replies, “I have not been for a very long time.” Garen nods happy with the answer if not the situation.

“I’ve known since the day I beat you all in the sparring match.”

“Nearly a year and a half.” Obi-Wan says angrily before he looks at his former Master and the yellow bleeds out of his eyes. “I suppose I have one comfort you did not when you got thrown the curveball that is Ben’s memories.” Obi says, Qui-Gon raises an eyebrow. “You’re still the same man you were yesterday.”


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Obi-Wan’s statement seemed to ring in everyone’s heads and settle the last of the doubts people felt.  He was right after all, Dooku and Qui-Gon were the same men they were yesterday and they’d never had any reason to fear them before.  Except it made Arl question things, many things.  Suddenly she was not so sure of herself, of many things.  She’d been thrown one massive curveball that she attempted to puzzle out and she looked at Qui-Gon’s force signature.  The room had been shielded so that, upon Yoda’s request, both Sith had lowered the shielding they used to hide the darkness in their signatures.  It was odd for all around the place, they felt dark but there was no hint of true corruption and threw all their beliefs into the air for what had to be the fiftieth time at least now.  But for Arl that was all meaningless and she observed him.  Realising the futility of it, she closed her eyes and dispersed herself into the force in a way she often did not allow herself too.  She got distracted too easily and lost track of time, but now she had a goal in mind.  She surrounded herself in Qui-Gon, feeling the way he feels in the force and the way the force feels around him.  That was when she found what she was looking for, the coldness of the darkside, watered down through years of lightside using as well, a balance that had blocked it from view.  This man was a Sith in that he followed the code, trusted in their beliefs, and considered himself to be one.  But he was so much more than he realised, one day, that could save a great many people.

When Arlie came back to herself, Xanatos and Garen were arguing about something stupid with Obi-Wan occasionally chiming in with something to keep it going, Quinlan doing the same except to the other side of what Obi was saying which led to those two arguing as well.

“I am getting too old for this.” Arl complains.

“You think you are.” Micah says beside her.

“Neither of you should be complaining about age.” Dooku says tiredly.

“Quiet all three of you should be.  Making me feel old you are.” Yoda tells them, Arl chuckles.

“Did you seriously just complain about being old Arlie?” Garen asks incredulously.

“My dear brother-padawan, I turned fifty-two a few weeks ago.  I have been dealing with your arguments, some variation of you four, since I was seventeen.”

“Well when you put it like that…” Obi-Wan trails off awkwardly.

“I am a fifteen years younger than you.” Mace suddenly says.

“Huh, I never realised, you always seem like an old man to me.” He hits the back of her head playfully.

“All right so, on Naboo a year ago we learnt how to trap Wrath’s consciousness once he is out of Sheev.  The last piece of the puzzle is to learn how we pull him out.  Supposedly only the creator of the order can do it.” Tahl says sounding unsure.

“Yes, believe me I scoured Sidious’ library looking for a way while under his tutelage.  Tried relying on instinct and many other things.  I am not capable of it through the darkside nor the light, and neither is anyone else whose accounts I have read.” Obi tells them all.

“It is just that the document we found in the ancestral language said we merely have to tear the soul from the body.  The only part that had to be done by the creator was the disintegration of it however we could capture it instead.” Tahl continues.

“So perhaps it is less a lack of ability and more a lack of knowledge.” Valorum suggests, Arl nods.

“Much of our knowledge has been lost to time.  Perhaps when we go to the past we will find answers to more than just one question.” Arl says resigning herself to the fact that they are making her go.

“I was thinking about our problem with the timelines continuing in your absence, what if you were to return the same amount of time it had been since you left?  You’d merge with the timeline and there would not be the second one without you.” Garen suggests, “Just like a car merging back into the correct point on the road, it all continues on as it would have had it never left.” Arl ponders it.

“All right, I did agree to do this so long as this meeting happened first and we thought it all through.  So, we take the time we need to plan it well and then I’ll take my partners and we’ll go.  That of course adds a certain, for lack of a better term, time constraint.  The longer we spend in the past the longer we are gone here.”

“We should wait on the training until Lo-Master Dooku returns. I’ve never trained another to be a Sith before.” Qui-Gon admits, no one missed the slip but appreciated the catching of it.  None were really prepared enough for that yet.

“You’d once never trained a Jedi before either and Feemor turned out okay.” Arl replies, he nods bowing to the point she makes.

“Out of curiosity, who exactly are we training to be Sith?” Dooku asks having been questioning that silently since it was first brought up.

“Has to be people already well versed in the force.” Bant says.

“There are not exactly many force-sensitive adults that are not trained Jedi, and if there are it is because they chose not to be Jedi.  I doubt they would then chose to be Sith.” Terza adds sounding stumped.

“Well, I suppose the obvious answer is to take people from your own ranks but…with the way you’ve trained them it may not be possible.” Valorum tells them.

“If a Jedi knight or Master were to volunteer to be trained, give up the Jedi ways and become a Sith knowing the council were allowing it, would you be able to teach them?” Eeth asks.

“If they were truly prepared to change their way of thinking and renounce nearly everything they have ever learned.  Accepting that once they go down this path, there may be no way back, it may be possible though not easy.” Dooku tells them. “But they would need a very open mind and to volunteer, if they do it out of a sense of duty to the Jedi they will have already failed.  They must be prepared to be a Sith.”

“Finding volunteers would mean telling others in the temple about what we are doing.” Depa reminds them.

“Out of curiosity, would you be able to forgo the whole, sacrifice bit?  I’d just really prefer we not condemn a bunch of people to death in order to not condemn all people to death.” Arl requests.

“Technically the idea of the sacrifice is more of a cultural thing than any necessary part of being a Sith to the force.  I would not refuse them the chance should they wish to go through with it but I can’t imagine anyone would.  Especially given this is likely going to be borne out of a desire to help people.” Qui-Gon admits, Dooku, and Obi-Wan nod.

“Qui-Gon, you would have had to make a sacrifice yes?” Micah asks suddenly very much not wanting to know the answer. The man looked very uncomfortable with the topic but nodded all the same. “Who?”

“My sister.”

“Dear gods.” Terza says suddenly feeling very ill.

“Perverse and twisted but, darkly intelligent I suppose.” Tahl says looking surprisingly comforted by Qui-Gon’s admission.

“What?” Bant asks her Master looking extremely disturbed.

“His sister was dying a very slow and painful death.  A rare and incurable illness.” Tahl explains. “The death he provided would have been a kindness, yet he also sacrificed time he could have had with her.”

“Still begs the question, where do we find volunteers, and what do we do if we cannot.” Kit reminds them.

“Well, if someone in here wants to do it we could use it as a trial run.” Quinlan jokes though it was a legitimate suggestion.

“I’m not a Knight but, I’ll do it.” Garen says confidently, everyone seems quite shocked, including Arlie. “Well Master Qui-Gon has never done this before, so starting him off with someone that doesn’t have many many many years of ingrained instinct makes sense.  Plus, according to Arlie, I have a habit of falling quite easily even as a Knight.”

“I do have to give him that one, he walks a fine line, it may be easier for him to cross it than most who have to find it first.” Arl admits.

“It would mean I would no longer be your Master, you’d be Qui-Gon’s Pada, no, you’d be his Apprentice.  His Sith Apprentice, to a Sith.  You would no longer be a Jedi, you understand this?” Micah asks unsure how he feels about it and honestly feeling like a failure as a Jedi Master that his padawan would so quickly join a Sith.

“Yeah but I would still be here, I’d still have all of you, I’d just be here in a different capacity.  I’ve always struggled with the Jedi way of life, I think this might actually suit me better.  I can keep helping people without the parts of being here I’ve always felt suffocated by.  I know it won’t be easy but I am willing to do it, to learn.” Mic had known all of that of course but hearing it made him feel better.  He wasn’t losing his Padawan, not really, once a Padawan always a Padawan.  No longer being his student doesn’t mean much in the face of that.

“So long as you are 100% sure.” Qui-Gon stresses, Garen nods.

“Walk with me you will.” Yoda tells Garen who appears nervous but follows the troll out of the room.

“This is not how I imagined this day would go.” Plo admits to them.

“So, while they’re gone, the past.” Quinlan says.

“Yes, the past.” Arl repeats.  They all begin working on a plan.  Arl insisted they not leave for a few weeks, really think this all through, see how Garen goes, let Anakin know so that it is not a sudden shock to him.  She had quite a few reasons, many just sounded like procrastination and avoidance to the table.  Eventually Terza had enough and put her foot down stating they would leave in three weeks and no later.

Garen and Yoda return fifteen minutes after they left and see a stand off going on across the table between Arl and Terza.

“Fine.” Arl bites sitting back down, Terza follows suit in a huff.

“Your apprentice he will be.” Yoda tells Qui-Gon when they have everyone’s attention.

This was a pivotal turning point in their history.  It changed the direction of everything forever, yet it would quickly be forgotten.  Dooku and Qui-Gon remembered as the first of the Jedi to train to be Sith for the bridging.  Garen’s choice, or in some people’s views, his sacrifice, long forgotten.  That mattered little for them, all they knew was people needed saving.  That was the goal they decided to work for, not to be Jedi, not to be Sith, to be good people.  One day, that will be enough, or so they hope.

 

A few days later it was all sorted, Garen moved in with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan moving out to live in his own quarters.  Really, he just took possession of the quarters still technically assigned to Micah.  Arlie was at a loss on what to do, she had a goal in mind and a plan to make, yet she felt as though she were drifting.  So much was changing and she realised that for the first time in a long time, she had no real idea what would happen from here.  She’d truly given up any pretence of being anything other than a Jedi master, it had a tendency to make interactions with others in the temple awkward so she mainly stuck to her usual group of people.

Three days after the meeting, Garen came to have lunch with Mace, Micah, and Arlie in their quarters.  Qui-Gon had been invited but had elected to leave them to catch up.  It had only been three days but the four had always been extremely close and as it turns out, very co-dependent.  Especially Arlie and Garen, both of which could often be found standing in a room in their respective quarters during their limited free time, just having no idea what to do with themselves.

“Sooooo, how goes being a Sith?” Arlie asks awkwardly when they sat down to eat.

“Tactful as always Arl, it’s…different.  Not a bad different just, different.  Turns out, very frustrating and difficult to be learning stuff that goes against everything you’ve done your entire life.  Or since I was three anyways.  Obi-Wan shielded one of the private training salles that Yoda allowed us to permanently book out for lessons so that we don’t get the entire temple coming to kill us.” He tells them.

“I’m curious, it’s been annoying me actually how little I know, but what do Sith even do?” Mace asks, Garen sniggers.

“Yeah that’s another thing I’ve learnt, there is so much that Jedi don’t know.  Did you know that the Sith believe meditation to be a crutch?  Apparently, if you are to be close with the force, one must be able to commune with it on a whim, in the middle of a battle and without losing awareness of what is around them.”

“That’s…radical.” Micah says surprised, Mace looks fascinated.

“Yes, also very complicated.  Master has started me off with what Master Dooku calls ‘micro-meditating’. It’s the process of entering a meditation trance and exiting it again as quickly as possible.  It is sort of a stepping stone, teaching me to open the connection and close it as soon as I desire to.” He tells them.

“You know, I’ve just realised I know nothing about your life before you came to the temple.” Arlie says after everyone is quiet for a moment.  It was not awkward though, just a comfortable silence.

“Not much to tell really, I was in an orphanage. Then the Jedi came for me, here I am.” Garen says, “I do not really remember much apart from that, I was three after all.”

“Fair enough.” Arl says laughing slightly.

“How goes the trip planning?” Arl groans.

“You know when you spend too much time with people and you start wanting to punch them in the face for every little thing?” They nod, “Try being like that with Dooku.”

“I heard you two had been at each other’s throats.” Mace tells her.

“Quinlan, Dooku, and I have been cooped up in the meeting room planning it all out every minute of every day for three days.  I really did not think we’d ever have this problem.  But I suppose in the other timeline the only extended period of time we spent together was in the library researching.”

“We all thought you and Vos or Vos and Dooku would be the point of contention.” Micah says with a laugh, Arl tenses almost imperceptibly at his words.

“Funny how things turn out.” She responds completely naturally, so much so that Micah thought he may have imagined her discomfort.

 

Four days later Qui-Gon and Mace were in the commissary watching Dooku leave with food for three, apparently the trio were working through lunch again.

“They’re fighting.” Mace says turning his attention back to his food.

“Again? I thought they got over that days ago?” Qui responds as he eats, he was surprised but very happy that his friendships had been a bit strained but not at all broken after his admission of Sithness, well, apart from Mic.  He wasn’t sure Mic would ever forgive him, but at least he was professional, even though it hurt Qui-Gon to be rejected by one of his best friends.

“Not Arl and Dooku, all three of them.  They are fighting with each other and pretending to be fine.  I think the tiffs between Dooku and Arl escalated to the point where they are acting fine in front of others.”

“So why think Quin is involved?  Beside it being Quinlan Vos we are talking about.”

“How would you feel being stuck in a room with two people who are arguing constantly?”

“Pretty pissed off and sick of their shit long before now to be honest.” Mace points his fork at him.

“Exactly, yet, he’s fine.  Seems peacefully happy even.” Qui considers the point.

“Well, if you are right, they are doing one hell of a job at hiding it.” He thinks about how willing he is to piss off his Master for a moment.

“Okay, that is your scheming face, what are we doing?” Mace asks, Qui-Gon grins.

“There’s dinner at your place tonight, right?” Mace nods now uncertain he still wants to host it. “Here’s the plan.”

 

Hours later, Depa, Adi, Mace, Micah, Obi, Arlie, Qui, Dooku, Garen, Terza, Tahl, Bellan, Bant, Shmi, Anakin, Quinlan, and Xanatos are in their quarters around the foldable table they’ve gotten as their group got bigger.  They push the furniture in the loungeroom onto the balcony to make room for the large table.

“So, how’s your project going?” Mace asks Dooku, Quinlan and Arlie, they all exchange looks.  All had been perfectly peaceful so far, so Qui-Gon and Mace began to implement their plan.  The basis?  Push until they snap.

“Good, we’re on our way to working out all the kinks in the plan.” Arlie replies diplomatically, the other two say nothing to the contrary.

“How long are you going to be gone again?” Anakin asks.

“I don’t know Ani, hopefully not too long.” He seems sad, Shmi squeezes his shoulder supportively.  It was the first planned long mission she had been on since he and Shmi arrived.

“You guys must be going stir crazy stuck in that room with each other for a whole week.” Qui adds.

“We had a few issues but we got over it, we have a job to do after all.” Dooku tells his former Apprentice who pretends to be happy with the answer.  When no one is looking, he and Mace exchange looks silently agreeing to continue.  It went like this for a while, Mace could feel Mic’s suspicious look but refused to acknowledge it.  None of the three cracked, Mace began to think he had been wrong when it happened.

“It’s nice having a friend I tell everything to.” Anakin says after Obi-Wan asks him how he and Owen are doing, they had stayed in contact after getting along so well.

“Yes, that’s a lovely thing to have.” Arl tells him, it seemed perfectly innocent enough but Quinlan tensed and Dooku sighed quietly.

“Really? Now?” Dooku says, she shrugs innocently.

“I didn’t say anything, just having a conversation with my brother.  It is not my fault you over analyse everything.” She replies calmly.

“Do you two ever stop?” Quin hisses, Mace and Qui can’t help but smile victoriously, then things spiral more than they meant it to.

“I was just trying to have a damn conversation, because talking is something people do Quinlan, they tell people things.”

“I was going to tell you!” Quin says loudly.

“Oh you were? When? Before or after it gets used against us?” Dooku asks sarcastically.

“Yeah coz you have a solid standing to judge on, seeing as you’re such an open book.” Quin snaps.

“That is his life, we are talking about our lives, stuff that affects all of us, stuff you hide.” Arl tells him.

“Arlie, I’m pissed to but he had his reasons, if you ever thought to look passed your annoyance instead of deciding it is the most important thing…” Dooku begins to tell her.

“At least I have feelings!” Arlie defends harshly.

“Yes and they serve you oh so well.” He drawls.

“Because being a cold-hearted asshole serves you so well.” Quin says sarcastically.

“As it happens, it does.” Dooku replies at the same time Arlie says, “He’s not cold-hearted Quinlan he’s just a grown up, you should try it sometime.”

Things just descended to the three of them yelling at the same time and no one really catching anything.  It was when ‘Maul’ and ‘Plagueis’ came out that Mace began to regret their actions.  Then Sidious and Wrath were mentioned.  Soon enough Quinlan was yelling about Tyranus and Arl was yelling something about memories to which Dooku yelled “CONSIDERING YOU ARE A RETICENT ASSHOLE TOO FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE TO EVEN CARE ABOUT THE PRESENT, ARE YOU REALLY IN A PLACE TO JUDGE HIM?”

“HEY! THE LAST THING I NEED IS _YOUR_ HELP!” Quin yells.

“QUIET!” Shmi yells over the three, they all shut up panting slightly from the screaming match.  Micah just looks accusingly at Qui-Gon and Mace who both mouth sorry to him, Micah looks pointedly to the three across the table from them.

“That was actually our fault.” Mace admits gesturing to Qui-Gon and himself.

“We had a theory that you guys were fighting and hiding it.” Qui says.

“So you thought, hey there’s a hornet’s nest, let’s poke it with a fucking stick?” Arl cries.

“Let me guess, Qui-Gon’s idea?” Dooku asks, looking unsurprised but glaring daggers at his former Apprentice who shrinks down into his chair.

“How’d you know?” Mace asks, Dooku continues glaring.

“Let’s just say I am well aware of my former…Padawan’s…love of sewing chaos and creating mayhem and… _Anarchy_.” He says practically hissing the last word to the man who is sliding so far down his seat Arl thinks he may slip off entirely, Obi-Wan and Adi snicker as they realise where the name ‘Darth Anarch’ came from.

“What is a Hornet?” Anakin asks innocently, unconcerned by the shouting though a little surprised at Arlie doing it.

“A creature from another planet.  Annoying little insects that sting you when they feel threatened.  Poking their nest brings out hundreds of them and they all attack.” Arl explains.

“That sounds unpleasant, and accurate to the situation.” Micah says glaring at Mace and Qui again.

“We only wanted to help.” Mace defends, Mic rolls his eyes.

“No, you wanted to be proven right.”

“I can do both.” Mic glares again, Mace wisely shuts his mouth.  He was so in trouble later.

“So, how long?” Bellan asks them curiously, Arl shrugs.

“More or less since the night before the meeting with the Chancellor.”

“What are you actually fighting about?” Tahl asks unable to help herself, her insatiable curiosity helped her in her research, less so in social situations.  It was one of the things her friends loved about her though.

“One at a time.  Quinlan you start.” Terza says when they all go to speak at once.

“I kept something from them that they did have a right to know, but I had perfectly legitimate reasons to not tell them.  They keep attacking me about it.” He says breaking it down to the root of the problem.

“Dooku?” Shmi asks when neither of the other two speak.

“That was how it started, it just kind of spiralled, especially when we couldn’t get a break or really have a chance to talk about it.  Nor have we had a chance to talk about Arlie and I not telling him about that other thing.  I mentioned that Arlie was being overly emotional about Quinlan not telling us.  She did not take kindly to that.”

“Arl?” Mic asks, they’d started now, no use in going back.

“I don’t care that you didn’t tell us Quin, I mean I was rightfully pissed but I got over it.” Arl says surprising everyone.

“Then what the hell have we been arguing for?” Quin asks incredulously, Arl gives him the most condescending, disbelieving look anyone had ever seen.

“Are you joking right now?  Do you seriously have no idea why I am pissed?” Arl asks, Qui-Gon holds up a hand before Quin can answer.

“Not arguing right now Arl, explaining.” He tells her, she sighs as the anger drains away.  It was then everyone could see she seemed hurt and confused more than anything, just, lost.

“You still haven’t told us.” She says quietly. Everyone seems to understand then, including it seems Quinlan.

“I can’t Arl, I can’t think about it.” Quin says his voice cracking with…grief? No, fear.

“I can understand that, and in other circumstances I might agree with Dooku and accept you have reasons and leave it alone.  But this is a day and a half of my life that I know nothing about, a day and a half that left me permanently scarred in more ways than one.  I still can’t go to the healer without panicking, why do you think I haven’t done the frigging evaluation?  I need to know what happened Quin.”  Several things made sense after that.

“What use is him telling us if it breaks him entirely Arlie?  He already can’t get any sleep except when we’ve resorted to drugging him.” Dooku tells her.

“I knew that was you.”

“Someone drugged you and you didn’t say anything?” Terza asks.

“Well if it wasn’t them it was Master Tholme so…” Quin says, Terza just sighs.

“Okay, Dooku what is your take on the situation?  You seem to be going back and forth.” Shmi asks wanting to get this sorted out.

“I want to know, I do.  I am sick of not knowing, of walking around on a prosthetic leg and not knowing why.  But we nearly lost Quin twice over what happened.  I don’t actually want my partner to end up…not here.” Dooku says awkwardly looking over at Anakin at the end.

“Well why don’t you guys go into his head, see his memories so that he doesn’t have to relive it?” Anakin asks, “We are learning about it in classes, I mean you aren’t allowed to do it but you also aren’t allowed to be Sith and there are three in this room so I figured you guys wouldn’t care about that.” Anakin says when people look at him surprised, that didn’t really help much.

“Anakin how did you know that?” Mace asks thinking it now safe to speak again, by Mic’s glare, he was wrong.

“You look different.  I mean everyone does so it comes out in different ways but it’s there.” The boy says.

“What do you mean?” Arl asks curiously.

“Well, Master Qui-Gon glows a warm ambery colour, but he’s got a streak of silver that kind of flickers in the middle like a flame.  Master Dooku is mostly that silvery colour but it’s ringed with red and then a bright white encompasses it all like a blanket.  Garen was green, and yellow like the suns on Tatooine, it swirled together and moved faster the more excited he got.  But now the swirls have the silvery colour in the ripples and seem calmer, he seems to keep it calm even when excited now.  It hasn’t been like that long.”

“How did you know that meant Sith?” Dooku asks curiously, surprisingly he senses no fear from the child.

“I dunno, instinct I guess.”

“What do I look like?” Obi-Wan asks curiously and a tad nervously.

“You’re weird.  It’s like the same colour of your hair but sometimes black or white swims through it.” Obi-Wan isn’t sure if he’s comforted by that or the exact opposite.

“What about me?” Arl asks finding this interesting, he had never mentioned seeing people this way before in either timeline, Obi seemed just as surprised which means he had not even told him.

“You’re kind of hard to look at like that.  You just kind of, it’s hard to explain.  It’s just bright.  When you use the force you either have amber, black, purple, or silver go through it, but it’s swallowed up by the brightness.  In fact, that’s the only way to explain it, you just _are_ brightness.  It kind of gives me a headache actually.  I have to look away when I meditate or feel especially close to the force, even then I can feel you, always.”

“You’ve mentioned that on Tatooine, you said you could feel Arlie.” Shmi says sounding puzzled.

“I could.  Except when she disappeared for a minute or two when I was really little.  That was really scary, I thought she must’ve died.  But then she showed up again and everything seemed right, brighter and happier like something had snapped into place.  It was better than even before she left.”

“I remember that, you were three and inconsolable.  Middle of the night and you woke screaming and sobbing.” Shmi tells him worried as she thinks of one of the scariest moments of her life.

“Yeah but it’s okay now.  Everything is almost as it should be.”


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A week later Garen comes running into their quarters and shuts the door behind him.

“Damn this must be serious.” Micah jokes from his spot sitting on the couch with Mace’s head in his lap as they both read from different datapads.  Arl had come home to take a break from the silence that had filled the meeting room constantly since the dinner incident, she had intended to meditate until Garen showed up.

“Guess what, oh my gods you’ll never guess, it was so freaking cool!” Garen says quickly as he practically vibrates.

“What is it?” Arl asks with an amused smile as Mace looks up from the datapad.

“I threw lightning, literal lightning!  I’ve been trying for days and I did it!” Garen tells them happily, Mic immediately disturbed before seeming to catch himself and smiling at Garen.

“Congratulations Garen, that is incredible.” He tells him earning a blinding smile from the boy, they all talked casually for a while before Arl announced she had to be getting back, Garen offered to walk her back since he still had sometime.

Once alone, Mace sat up to address his friend, “So, how hard was that for you to hear?”

“Yes.” Mic replies, Mace takes his hand to rub soothing circles into the back.  “I just feel like I’ve failed.  My Padawan is training to be a Sith, he volunteered.  It was literally my job to make sure, should an offer arise, he’d turn it down without hesitation.” Mace opens his mouth to speak but Micah keeps going, “I know he’s doing really well and it’s not like he’s a Dark Sith but it is kind of hard for me to swallow that my Padawan, _my Padawan_ , just came in here so happy and excited because he used the dark side to create _force freaking lightning_.” Mace attempts to speak again before Mic speaks first again, “I know, I know. We agreed to train people, I guess I was just a lot less prepared for this than I thought.  I still can’t believe one of my two best friends of over fifty years had been lying to me for forty-five of those years.  I don’t actually harbor any ill will to Qui nor to Dooku.  I just, I never expected it to be Garen.” Mace remains silent to see if he would continue, but he doesn’t.

“He said to me the other day that it meant so much to him that you were okay with this, even helping him with it.  He was so scared he would lose you.  Had it been betraying the Jedi to do so, you know he never would have agreed.  But now that we’ve opened this, what is it Arl says, can of worms?  Or kettle of fish?”

“No I think kettle of fish is another one all together, I don’t know.  I seriously doubt we ever learnt to understand her sometimes, not even in the other timeline.” Mic says with a smile.

“My point is, being a Sith is okay so long as he isn’t using his abilities to hurt people.  Just like being a Jedi, with great power comes great responsibility.”

“You need to stop quoting your Padawan.”

“Shut up I’m trying to give a pep talk here.  He is doing what is best for everyone but also what is best for him.  So maybe what you need to do is really accept that being a Sith isn’t the evil we were raised to believe.”

“You’re right.  How are you so accepting of this?  I somehow thought you would be the most resistant.” Mace smiles at his…currently unlabelled person…in a scarily understanding expression.

“So did I, but it was really easy to see the difference looking at Dooku and Qui-Gon.  They lied and it hurt yeah but, no matter what they’ve hidden, I still know them.  Neither of them are capable of the things Wrath has done, none of them would possess someone and make them murder their wife.  None of them would possess someone at all.  And I feel like I owe Dooku.” Micah has to admit it made sense, except one thing.

“Why would you owe him?”

“He killed Cosinga to save my brother from the abuse he was suffering from.  It failed, made things worse even.  But he still turned on his Master to help Sheev, I won’t ever not be thankful for that, regardless of how badly it went.”

 

The next day Micah went to the meeting room to see Arlie, the council wanted an update on how things were going.  He walks in to find dead silence and three people with their faces submerged in the papers or books spread over the table.

“This was your solution to arguing?” Micah asks, “Because it is efficient but doesn’t really solve anything.”

“We all agreed we were too busy to deal with it right now and so long as it doesn’t come between our work it doesn’t matter.  Besides, we made a deal when we entered the mindscape, one we are sticking to.” Arlie says, Quin looks at her and smiles, Micah thinks peace may have just been made, at least for now, though he has no idea what deal she means.

“You realise you only have a week left, right?”

“Yes, believe it or not this is actually coming together.  We’ve been looking over different views on time travel and familiarising ourselves as best we can with the time period despite having next to nothing to go on.  We’ve also chosen a time to go to, we’re really just outlining some basic rules to keep ourselves in check and detached from events at this point.” Quin tells him, Mic nods pleased.

“When exactly are you going?”

“13’052 years into the past, our estimated timeline puts that at a few hundred years after the Order of The Force broke apart into the three sects but a hundred years or so before the unknown third sect died off.” Arlie tells him distractedly as she adds something onto a list, Mic leaves them to their work.

 

The day before the trio are supposed to leave, they have a final meeting with the whole group.  Qui-Gon shows up with his hair sticking up, he sits down perfectly naturally while Dooku looks him dead in the eyes…and smirks.

“Yes, I know, payback.” Qui says unhappily to his former Master.

“I did tell you this would happen dear Apprentice.” He reminds him, Qui-Gon looks unimpressed, Garen is in his seat beside his Master looking sheepish as Qui-Gon attempts to flatten his hair.  Arl gets the impression he’s been trying for a while.

“Do we dare ask?” Plo asks though he sounds more amused then anything.

“You know when training Jedi and it is just guaranteed that at some point things will shatter when they get annoyed?” Qui-Gon asks.

“Jedi do that?” Dooku asks, “I’ve never trained one.” He reminds those who appear confused, they seem surprised.

“You know I never put that together, anyway yes that does happen.  I remember Arlie’s incident and she’d already been trained.” Mace tells him, Arl glares at him.

“That was Mic’s fault and not because of a lack of control…well it was but…shut up.” Mic laughs, “Why do these meetings always fall apart?  Anyway, you should have seen Anakin as a Padawan.  Although you still might.  I would not be surprised if those events repeated themselves.”

“Ah but now I know not to let him near Yoda’s quarters until after his thirteenth birthday.” Obi-Wan says, Arl snickers.

“So back to the original topic which still isn’t what this meeting is for, yes we know that things will always shatter.” Depa tells Qui-Gon.

“Well for Sith it’s just a certainty that when attempting to instruct one’s Apprentice to direct lightening, they are going to grow frustrated, lose control, and accidentally hit you.” Dooku tells them.

“Yes, and then your Master is in a pissy mood for a week.” Qui-Gon grumbles, “I certainly took it better than that.”

“You think that’s bad? Imagine doing it to Cosinga Palpatine.” Dooku says shuddering at the memory.

“What did he do?” Garen asks curiously.

“He threw it back, except he knew how to channel it.” Everyone cringes while Obi-Wan laughs.

“Why is that funny?” Bant asks incredulously.

“He did the same thing to me.” Dooku smiles slightly. “We should compare Apprenticeship stories sometime.”

“What are we going to do?  Find embarrassing stories to use against him?” Dooku asks dryly though Obi-Wan can see the amusement dancing in his eyes.

“I still can’t believe you threw force lightning at Qui-Gon.” Adi says to Garen who looks affronted.

“I didn’t mean to but if he didn’t tell me the same thing fifty times in a row I wouldn’t have been so annoyed.”

“If you had listened the first time I wouldn’t have had to keep saying it.”

“I was trying!”

“Okay, so, Sith training.  Going well?” Tahl asks trying to steer the conversation in the right direction.

“Better than I’d anticipated.  We are entering a particularly difficult phase though.” Qui-Gon explains, Garen looks confused while Dooku smiles sympathetically.

“Emotional control.” Dooku explains to the others.

“The way Jedi are taught to deal with their emotions becomes instinct rather quickly because it is how you deal with everyday life.  It is also completely different to what Sith are taught.  So, attempting to break him out of the habit and back in is going to result in some interesting mood swings.” Qui-Gon tells them, Garen winces slightly.

“It’s going to be even worse for you than it was for me when training you.  I started when you were eleven, he’s seventeen.” Dooku points out.

“Feeling how are you?” Yoda asks Garen who shrugs.

“Different, it’s kind of hard to explain the feeling.  But it’s really interesting what I am learning, it’s fun too.  I guess it is kind of nerve-wracking sometimes.  I was brought up to think of the dark side to be bad and stuff, it almost scares me sometimes how much I enjoy using it.  But then I remember why this is even happening and I remind myself that it’s not really any different than any other part of the force so long as I keep helping people.”

“Is anyone else really glad Yarael stepped down when he did just so that he did not hear that?” Adi asks, Ki-Adi nods in agreement, Garen smiles sheepishly again.

“Satisfied?” Quinlan asks Arl who rolls her eyes.

“Fine, we can go to the past.” She finally relents fully.

“People are getting suspicious about so many Jedi being grounded, so we need to start sending the people in here on missions again. While you are gone everyone else is going to have to continue on as usual, with the exception of Qui-Gon training Garen.  Even that cannot be done in temple all the time.” Ki-Adi tells them, they all agree.

“I have been thinking about something that makes me quite nervous.  Should Darth Wrath manage to get into Knight Xanatos’ mind once more while you are gone, do we have anyone else who will be able to subdue him?” Saesee questions.

“I’ve only ever duelled with Wrath in the mindscape so I’m not sure how accurate my assessment of his skills is, but everyone I’ve coached in sparring should be fine.  If it’s just Xanatos’ mind being warped, well no offense but he’s relatively easy to deal with.  So long as Maul does not turn up at the same time at least.” Arl tells him, “Dooku held his own against him for quite some time despite it being in his domain, so Mace and Mic should be fine.  Also Obi-Wan.”

“Speaking of Obi-Wan, if we are sending people out of the temple again, perhaps Obi and Xan would be a good pair?” Terza mentions, “I realise that goes beyond the topics we discuss in here but you can’t pair either of them with someone who does not know the particular challenges they face, and they are likely to be able to help control the other should anything go wrong.”

“Agree with this I do, agree do you both?” Yoda asks the two Knights both of whom look to each other before nodding.

“A corrupted Knight and a half-Sith, what has our order come to?” Kit says dramatically in a joking tone of voice.

“Us facilitating the turning of a Jedi Padawan to Sith Apprentice wasn’t when you said this?” Arl asks.

“Actually, the first time I said it was when a nine-year-old Padawan claimed to be a retired Jedi-Master and General from thirty years in the future.”

“Mine was when I realised my Padawan was fallen and I hadn’t noticed, nor had anyone else, and it is not as though she blends into the shadows.” Mace says derisively, she grins innocently at him.

“You know when I was a child I was really shy.  Like really really shy.”

“Now that I honestly do not believe Angel.” Xanatos says to her, she grins again.

“All a part of growing up Saviour, you’ll find out when you get around to that one day.” He mock glares at her.

“What’s Earth like?” Bellan asks, everyone now knew about it and the other universe, somehow that was harder for them to swallow than the time travel.  She had not even really bothered attempting to explain what the in-between is to them.  Not yet.

“Well I haven’t seen all of it but my country, Australia, is…well…either very hot or very cold.  Depends on the day to be honest doesn’t matter what season, it’ll go from snow in Stirling to frying an egg on the sidewalk in Adelaide within a week.”

“I wish I could see it, see where this all came from.” Bant says gesturing to her, Arl laughs before smiling as she thinks of something.

“I could probably actually take you there.” She says before her eyes widen. “Hang on, I could probably go there.” She says sitting up properly. “I could go home.” She says breathlessly.

“That-that’s amazing Arl.” Garen says though his voice cracks in the beginning, she looks up and sees several melancholy faces.

“Did I mention I can also come back?”

“Dammit Arls don’t do that!” Xanatos and Garen tells her at the same time both sounding relieved.

“How awkward would it be though, going home for a visit like no time has passed, meanwhile I’m fifty-two-years-old and they are expecting a seventeen-year-old that just went to buy some damn cat pyjamas.” Arl says.

“Your life is fucked.” Obi-Wan says at the same time Xanatos looks at her with a highly amused face and says “Cat pyjamas?”

“I needed winter pyjamas, they were cute and only like $20, shut up.” She says.

“I’m sorry you just have a reputation for being a sarcastic know it all unbeatable bad ass Jedi Master…and cat pajamas?”

“You’re such an ass, I was seventeen!”

“Did you spend half your time swooning at your crush?” Garen asks mocking the usual teenaged girl stereotype.

“I did not have a crush, I had a boyfriend, and shut up.”

“You know for a girl who is strictly into girls you seem to date a lot of guys.”

“At least I _do_ date.”

“I can’t Arl I’m a Je…oh…hey Master what are the Sith rules on this?”

“Not until you are a Lord in your own right.” Qui-Go replies smiling lightly.

“Fair enough.” Garen says happy with the answer, far less restrictive than the Jedi that bans it all together.  Despite most ignoring that anyway, Obi-Wan meanwhile starts laughing.

“You make it sound like the Jedi rules against it would have stopped you.” Obi says to Garen while laughing, “Sorry just, in the other timeline…” He says before laughing too hard to talk.

“Yo asshole, how was your love life last lifetime?” Arl asks him snarkily.

“Um…full?” Obi-Wan supplies.

“I’m just curious, did you sleep with all the Sith or was Tyranus a special case?” Arl asks, Obi-Wan hits Qui-Gon’s arm.

“I’m sorry you had just told me and I was panicked.” He defends.

“And I’ll have you know he was the only Sith I ever…okay there was one other but that’s not the point.”

“Oh gods Obi, who?”

“May have been Maul.”

“FOR FORCE’S SAKE DID YOU SCREW EVERYONE WE WERE FIGHTING AGAINST?  YOU REALISE YOU SLEEPING WITH DOOKU WAS TREASON BUT MAUL, REALLY?! MAUL?!” Arl yells incredulously.

“It only happened once!”

“When?”

“While I was his prisoner one time.” Arl facepalms.

“I take it back, never questioning anything ever again.  Should have learnt that lesson when I was seven, nope, forty-three years later and I still haven’t.  Seriously so glad I am not your commanding officer anymore.”

“Better than Anakin.”

“I was on a first name basis with your Commander because he kept having to report the stupid-ass things you both did.  Cody and Rex knew my Padawan personally from spending time with her all the times when you two got recalled for going too far.  Don’t even get me started on Anakin’s Padawan.”

“Hey! Leave Ashoka alone.”

“I’m not attacking, I just mean had you seen the mess you guys made for those of us dealing with the entire war instead of the battles you guys were sent on, you maybe would have tried to not be idiots so often.  I did not have the time for all the paperwork you guys created.  Anytime I needed to find a record of your missions I had to go through so many incident reports just to find it.”

“Is that why you guys write reports too even though you were the ones ours went to?”

“Yes, we needed a record too in case we ever needed a reference point or something related to it or something, which happened quite often.  Nothing was ever to chance, everything was connected.  It was really annoying actually.”

“I admit I did not take any of that into account.”

“You know we’ve never really heard you two talk about the war.” Qui-Gon says, Obi-Wan tended to slip into the mind set of Ben when around Arlie because it was so familiar, any other time though he was just his usual self.  Qui-Gon thinks the two were merging more than Obi-Wan realises.  He thinks that at some point he’ll subconsciously integrate both sets of memories into something akin to Arlie’s way of seeing things, in any case his former Padawan was maturing before his eyes.  It was nice actually, to see the man he cared for so much being his age even if he shouldn’t have been.

“We had very different views on things during the war.  We had little else to talk about so soon enough we just stopped talking outside of work.  Honestly, we were both so busy that there isn’t much to tell but battle stories.  I have a few good stories I guess from pranks and stuff in my ranks but Arlie had a very different experience.”

“How so?” Valorum asks, he was very interested in this future, Arl would have been worried but she’d seen what he was using the things they told him for.  He’d listened to what they were saying to find holes in how they did things now and make things better, she really liked the man.

“Well I was isolated, I didn’t have time for friends or free time.  Didn’t have time for a Padawan either but Quilo gave me no choice on that one.” Arl says with a fond smile, “Everyone else was out fighting the war and I was watching them die.  Reading reports and getting updates on everything that happened, hearing people being attacked and being unable to directly help.  Meanwhile the fun times that Obi and the other generals had, I got reports for replacement parts or complaints from people.  All these kinds of things, it was just, a stressful time and I never got a break.  Yoda once forced me to take six hours, a guaranteed six hours for Quilo and I to go see my parents.  Then I got a call from Reeft and…something bad had happened.  Yoda never made me take extended time off after that.” Arl says looking haunted, Obi-Wan’s eyes tear up thinking of it as well.

“Fuck stoicism.” Obi-Wan says getting up and walking to Bellan to hug her tightly.

“Oh, hello.” She says accepting the arm full of close friend.  She gestured for Arl to come join them which she did, albeit awkwardly and hesitantly.

“You wanna talk about what happened?” Bellan asks Arl who looks like she might speak before she sees the look in Bellan’s eye and poorly concealed hope on Terza’s.

“Oh my god, you are not evaluating me right now.” Arl says with a bewildered laugh as she wipes at her eyes.

“Well you won’t do it in proper circumstances, what did you expect?  For me to let it go?”

“Oh I’d never dream of expecting that from you.”

“Good because I am not going to leave something pertaining to your health alone and just hope it fixes itself.”

“This is your nineteenth birthday all over again, or I guess twenty-ninth.” Obi-Wan says thoughtfully.

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that again?”

“You agreed.”

“Think we will ever get through one of these meetings without getting extremely sidetracked?” Quinlan asks Dooku.

 “You lot are oh so professional sometimes.” Tholme grumbles, Quin rolls his eyes.

“I’ll bring the packs tomorrow, until then I suggest we all get some sleep.” Quinlan tells Dooku and Arl before heading out, everyone else soon follows.

 

The next day everyone is in the meeting room again, Arl the last to arrive since she was saying goodbye to her brother and mother.

“You guys are really about to head thousands of years into the past?” Garen asks still nearly unable to believe it.

“Apparently, now we still do not know how long we will be gone.  Hopefully no longer than three months, that’s our hoped maximum.  Should you desperately need us for something, there is a set of instructions that should only be opened in case of emergencies only we could solve for whatever reason and are for Mic’s eyes only.” Dooku tells them, everyone looks shocked.

“You said you’d plan for everything, I did not expect that to include leaving a way to somehow contact you should something go terribly wrong.” Ki-Adi admits.

“Well, we’re thorough.  Though to be perfectly honest, it was Arlie’s idea.  Quin and I don’t actually know what it says either.  He just questioned if there was some way to do it and she disappeared for three hours.  Came back and said it was taken care of.”

Dooku runs through the basics of the plan with them, Quin helping when he gets there.  Fifteen minutes later Arlie walks in.

“Right then, um, Garen.  Don’t forget to go to the creche to see the initiates, you know the drill.  Obi-Wan, Anakin needs help with one of his projects, it’s the mechanics, he needs someone to get one of the parts because the guy that has them in the temple won’t give it to him for some wacked reason.  Mace, make sure you are here and have access to the holonet in two weeks, you’re gonna want to see the Nubian news.  Mic, Mum said she’d probably come round while I’m gone to make sure you two aren’t getting lonely, please make sure she isn’t either.  Xan… don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone?” Arl says, Xan sputters.

“What?  Why isn’t Garen getting that?  He starts everything!”

“Do not!”

“Okay, you two are not children anymore and I am not going to be here to break up your fights.  Grow up and learn to get along.”

“Everything will be fine Arl, the Jedi order can survive without you for a few weeks.” Depa tells her putting her hands on her sister-padawan’s shoulders. Qui-Gon clears his throat behind her, “Right, the new Jedi/Sith Allied Force can survive without you for a few days.”

“Don’t ever call this an alliance again.” Darth Sohn demands moodily as he sits on his seat with his feet on the table glaring at everything.

“Get your feet off the table Obi.” Qui-Gon tells him, he absolutely abhors a lack of basic manners.

“Yes Master.” Sohn replies flirtily as he complies, looking up at Qui through his lashes, Qui-Gon swallows harshly.

“Okay, time to go.” Arl declares after that display.  “Man, he’s creepy when he gets like this.”

“He’s part Sith, what do you expect?” Quin asks sarcastically before turning to his other partner sheepishly. “No offence Ty.”

“Did you just make a pet name out of his Sith Moniker?” Tholme asks incredulously, Quin rolls his eyes.

“Well why not, Tyranus is his name.  Arl, you don’t nickname people often but we can all agree that when you do, it’s brilliant, ruling?” Sohn pisses himself laughing, not literally but he does double over and go red in the face.

“The Nicknaming Queen, the only nickname in the temple she didn’t make was her own and the only one in the temple who did not have one was Terza.  Yeah, she doesn’t nickname people often.” He says continuing to laugh, “No the trick is whether or not she tells you the name you’ve been assigned.  Trust me 90% of them are terrible but catchy.”

“Oh shut up yours was very descriptive and accurate, I didn’t even mean it to stick let alone become the title you were famous for and had a ship named it in your honour. And Terza did have one I was just very wisely too respectful to use it.” Arl defends poorly.

“You mean too terrified?” Xan asks, she force swats his arm.

“And yet, what do I get stuck being called?  Me, the infamous General and diplomat?  Front lines on the war, always in the dirt with his men, constantly getting Padawan and Grand-Padawan out of trouble…oh yes…The Negotiator.  The fucking Negotiator.”

“Given what I have since learnt, the second may be more accurate.”

“One of these days I am going to walk in here and see you all being professional, that’s when I’ll know I’m having a stroke.” Valorum tells them with a smile.

“What the fuck are you three wearing anyway?” Sohn asks rudely, Qui-Gon glares at him, he winks, Qui-Gon looks away flushed.

“Closest approximation to the clothing of the time period, we didn’t want to stand out.” Quinlan tells them.

“Good luck, come back safely, do us proud.” Mic tells the girl he considers his daughter as he rests his hands on her shoulders before pulling her into a hug she gladly returns.  After all goodbyes were over, Arlie, Dooku, and Quinlan put the packs they created on their backs and stand together.  Arl holds out her hands for them to take before giving them one final warning.

“No matter what you see, no matter what you hear or feel.  Do not try to focus on it, do not try to make sense of it, ignore it, keep your eyes closed and for god’s sake, _do not let go._ ” Arlie tells the two of them who nod, she closes her eyes and pulls the three of them into the in-between.  She calms herself once again, ignoring the feeling of something watching her knowing it to be impossible.  This was once a safe haven for her but then,

_A face, a face she can_ _’t quite see, it_ _’s there, staring at her with sickly yellow eyes, it_ _’s climbing out of the in-between and it_ _’s angry.  She_ _’s seen those eyes before, so hauntingly familiar it made her shiver with the knowledge that she wasn_ _’t the one in danger._

Then she dreamed one too many times, she knew this place was not safe for them.

(So stop focusing on that, get them out of here.) she thinks to herself before focusing on the point in reality she wishes to take them.  It took longer than intended but the two did as instructed and kept their focus inwards.  Then she pulled them out and looked around, she released their hands, the preapproved signal that they could open their eyes.

“Wow.” Dooku says looking around in breathless wonder.

“My sentiments exactly.” Arl replies in agreement as they gaze around at the forest they’ve found themselves in.

“I have a really bad feeling about this.” Arl and Dooku turn to look at their partner.

“What do you mean Quin?” Arl asks at the same time Dooku asks, “About what?”

“A feeling that you may have been right after all Arl, we should not have come back here.” He tells them, then he loses consciousness.

“Quin!” The Jedi and Sith call as they move to help their partner.

“Do you require aid?” An unknown voice asks from a tree as Arl and Dooku look over their friend attempting to find the cause of his fainting.  Dooku looks for the origin of the voice as Arl uses the force to scan over her friend sensing for any damage.

“Hello there, um, My friend, he’s ill.  Is there a village nearby by chance?” Dooku asks spotting the child in the tree with ease.

“I am Eran Pol of the Far Eastern Village, it is nearby.  I will act as your guide if you so wish?” The girl offers as she swings down from a high branch before dropping and rolling to come stand before him with perfect precision.

“We would be very grateful if you were to do so.” Dooku tells the girl as Arl looks over.

“Help me with him, will you?” Arl asks her partner, Dooku easily picks up Quinlan in a standard fireman carry, Arl shrugs, “That works.” She mutters to herself as Dooku begins following the girl before she hurries to catch up.

“Would it bother you to tell me your monikers?” Eran asks politely, Dooku smiles warmly at the child.

“I am Tyranus, this is Arl, and our friend here is Quinlan.” He replies, Arl could sense the ease in which he introduced himself, relieved as he is to be able to go by his truest name.

“How did you come to be that deep into the trees?” Eran asks Dooku, Arl is walking behind them so neither see the suspicious look she sends to the girl.

“We are travellers, new to this area.  I am afraid we are lost.” He replies, she smiles kindly at him.

“With luck, my Master will be able to give you direction Lord Tyranus.” He smiles, Arl’s frown deepens.

Ten minutes later they are entering the village.

 **“There is a distinct likeness to the descriptions in the archives but much difference as well.  We must be sure to tell Jocasta and Tahl when we return.** **”** Dooku tells her over their pairbond.

**“Many travellers must come through here, we are not receiving any odd looks as newcomers.** **”**

“Master!” Eran calls to an elderly man who looks up and smiles as he excuses himself from his conversation to walk over.

“Hello my pupil, how goes the mapping?” The man says, she smiles sheepishly.

“I did not get through much this day, it was my pleasure to happen across these travellers.  I believe they come for afar Master, they are lost and one is injured.” The girl’s Master turns to them in concern.

“Greetings, I am Master Pyre Halvi.” The man introduces, Arl fights back the surprise at the man’s name, who names their child after a pyre? “There is a healer’s hutch just over there, come, they will aid your friend.” Dooku follows, Arl hesitates, looking around the village on the spot.

**“There is something wrong with this place Doo.** **”**

**“Quin needs help Arl, if you have any better ideas, do tell.** **”** Arl huffs and follows him to the hutch without lowering her alert senses.

“What ails him?” A healer asks without greeting as he gestures for Dooku to leave him on the bed.

“We do not know, he just collapsed.” Dooku tells the man.

“He is suffering from a severe displacement shock, I do not know where you came from, but he was not prepared to transfer that distance.”  Arl fights back the guilt, she could not have known after all and they were aware of this.  “He will be all right but he will have to remain in our care for several hours.” The healer informs them as a purple glow of light akin to Arl’s own force-magic emits from his hands, his eyes glowing the same purple Arl’s are.  She knew he must have been a part of this third sect they were searching for, but was everyone here?

“The village is about to consume mid-meal, I can bring some in for you if you wish?”  Halvi asks, Dooku nods.

“That would be very much appreciated Master Halvi.” He says bowing slightly, Halvi returns the bow before leaving the room.  Arl and Dooku are shown to a small dining area in the next room, the door was thankfully left open so that they could still see Quinlan.

“May I join you Lord Tyranus?” Eran asks as she stands shyly in the doorway unsure if she was welcome, Arl frowns again not quite sure what was bothering her.

“Of course young one.” Dooku says pulling the chair beside him out so that she could sit with them.

“Would you enlighten me as to your correct title Madam Arl?” The girl asks, Arl hesitates.

“Knight.” She replies eventually, the girl’s face scrunches in confusion.

“I am afraid I am unfamiliar with such a title, how did you earn it?”

“Effort, and far too much time.”

“You do not care for me much, do you Knight Arl?” Dooku glares at Arlie out of the girl’s view.

“I am wary of all things I am unfamiliar with, it is nothing against you.”

“That is a harsh way to live, do you never tire of being suspicious all the time?”

“I tired of it long ago, however I have been proven correct far too many times for that to bother me.” She couldn’t quite believe that she was just shy of threatening a child but her life was strange enough, and until she worked out what was so off about this all, she would forgive herself this.  Dooku it appeared, would not.

“We never were properly introduced I am afraid, our friend appeared to be in a dire state.  My apologies for the abhorrent manners.”  Dooku says as Master Halvi comes back with food.  “We really do appreciate all you have done for us.”

“Of course, it is our way to aid those in need.  My Pupil has informed me of your monikers Lord Tyranus, I hope you do not mind.”

“Not at all.” Arl narrows her eyes at her partner’s insistence on trusting these beings.

“I hope it is not rude of me to ask, but you are a Master of what exactly?” Arl asks diplomatically, the Master smiled patiently at her as Eran seems put off by her tone.

“I suppose I did not say earlier did I?  I am a Master in the Order Of The Force.”

 

 

 

**Links to their respective outfits for going back in time:**

<https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/1e/0f/8a/1e0f8afe8cd957b68b9b50d0b3e6c4a5.jpg> **\- Arl**

<http://images.renaissancecostumesclothing.com/products/1541/1-1/adult-tavern-man-costume.jpg> **\- Dooku**

<https://images.halloweencostumes.co.uk/products/8585/1-2/adult-renaissance-man-costume.jpg> **\- Quinlan**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“I am a Master in the Order Of The Force.”  Pyre Halvi tells them, both keep their expressions calm though both are very surprised.  They should have been hundreds of years after that broke up.  “Or what is left of it anyway.” He says sadly, that made more sense.

“What happened to the rest of it?” Arl asks curiously, Dooku glares at her as Master Halvi’s expression saddens significantly as does his student’s.

“They left, differing views I am afraid.  I must say, I expected the both of you to be aware of all of this.  I am almost ashamed to admit that my student and I made an assumption, we thought you were a Lord of those who call themselves Sith.”

“I was trained by one of them, I did not know there was ever a larger whole though.” Dooku responds.

“And you?  You knew nothing?  You who has been trained in our ways.  How is this possible?” Halvi asks Arlie who looks a little stunned.

“This village, that is all that is left of your way of life is it not?” He nods sadly.  “What happened?”

“Our Order was founded on a singular belief, no one should ever have to be alone in times of trouble.  So we set out to help people, guided by the force that would do as we willed it to when we required it’s aid.  Some of us felt our methods too aggressive, others felt it too subdued.  They parted further when some thought we need not protect those who have turned to violence, but help those attempting to prevent it.  The others thought them selfish, they thought the others believed themselves above everyone else.  We are the ones who believe both, and neither.  Those who wished to follow the original ways, not out of tradition but a sense of rightness.  However, we are a dying breed, soon our ways will be gone all together.  It is the will of our creator that those who have lost their way find it again, but that cannot be done until they are showed inarguably, that they have erred.”

“What if your creator is the one who erred?” Arl cannot help but ask, he tilts his head on the side.

“It has occurred to us, and to her.  She, like all others, is wrong sometimes.  She is only human after all.  But we must put our faith in our own beliefs above all else, and we believe this to be the right course of action as one body.”

_…She is only human after all_ _…_

_…only human_ _…_

_… **only** human_ _…_ then it all clicked in Arlie’s head.

“Have you ever met anyone who is not human?” The man looks surprised.

“Some visited long ago, too long ago to be remembered by any other than the creator.  They told us when we were ready to journey beyond our world, we would be welcomed with open arms.  We were not ready, one day we will be.”  Dooku looks quite surprised.

“Your language, do you know where it began?” She asks, they were speaking Basic, they were all speaking Basic.  So were the rest of the villagers.  Arlie and Dooku thought they were further forward than this and so there would be either Old Sith or Ancient Jedi being spoken.

“It is singular to our village, they speak Ch’blanc everywhere else.”

“That’s why I brought you back here actually, I was curious how you knew it.” Eran adds.

“Why not ask until now?” Dooku questions.

“The force offers what is needed, for all we knew you were not and it was interpreting for us.”

“Why the difference?  Why speak this language here?” Arl asks.

“The Sith and The Jedi hunt us down, our old friends wanting to execute us for blasphemy.  They speak variants on our old language but, the plans we have made for ourselves, our children and for them, they cannot know.  Our creator has set in motion the beginnings of a plan to help them come together again in the future.”

“What plans?  Who is the creator?” Arlie asks, “And, why are you telling us this?”

“The answer to all three of those questions is in your destiny child.  Look deep within yourself and far out around you, you will find all the information you need.” She looks unconvinced, he smiles.  “You require rest, we shall continue this tomorrow.  There is a room off to the right that is for family of those staying with the Healer’s, you may use it.”  Master Halvi leaves with their dishes, Eran hesitates for a moment.

“You should know Knight Arl, our ways may never be preserved in people for a long time again, but they will always be preserved in the force.  I can see that you are scared for us, for the future, for our order, and for the force.  All will be well, have hope for the future, have faith in yourself, have trust in the force.” Eran tells her before leaving with a final smile to Dooku.

“Well that was weird.” Arlie tells her partner who waits until they close the door of their borrowed room before rounding on her.

“What the force was that out there Arl?  Were you trying to alienate them completely?”

“I just do not see why you are so smitten with them?”

“I am not smitten, I’m professional.  You should try that instead of trying to get us kicked out of here!  We came here for answers and we are making good headway.”

“Headway we would not be making if I had not started questioning things.  Do you not find it odd that the place we end up speaks Basic?  That they just hand over intimate information of their order and it’s destruction?  The exact people we wished to find right there before us?”

“Arl, not everyone is as suspicious and paranoid as you, and no I do not find it odd.  In fact, the more I think about it the more it makes sense.  We are on Coruscant Arl, where our order started, think of all the artefacts and historical documents we have written off as fake because they were in Basic.”  Arl’s eyes widen.

“Shit.”

“The real question is, if this is the third sect, why is it on the site of the Jedi Temple?  Or the original portion of it anyway.”

“Did you just refer to the Jedi Order as our order?” Arl asks with a smile, he glares.

“I learnt new things, I did not abandon my beliefs nor my kin.  I still believe I have a place in that order, if I did not I imagine I’d have left long ago.”

“Okay that’s another thing, did you hear Halvi before?  He said that the room if for family, family, not kin.” Dooku raises an eyebrow.

“All right, that should not be possible.”  They are quiet for a time, thinking it over.

“It is interesting what Master Halvi told us of the order, the belief it was built on.  What he said about the Sith and the Jedi, it’s just all too easy to see how it devolved from here.  But why did it take 13’000 years to reach the point it is at now?”

“Well Arlie, it didn’t.  Both have been stagnant for a very long time, hundreds of years, perhaps more.”

“That ancient text we found, do you believe it is written in this Ch’blanc they spoke of?”

“It would appear so yes.”

“So, this area becomes the Jedi temple, that document from so very long ago is in the language the Jedi were using and their creator has gone off somewhere. Perhaps to the Jedi given we know she trained Yoda.” Dooku nods catching on to her train of thought.

“You believe the creator will bring the Jedi back here, why would she do that?”

“I do not know Doo…sorry…Ty, what I do know is the creator wills this sect to die off quickly.  Use of force-magic dies with it.  Eran said that their ways would be preserved in the force, it was the force that taught my mentor.  Whatever plan this creator had, the one she is implementing now, I believe it has begun in our time.”

“Four time jumps later and we’ve only just gotten this far.  But we were working blind before, now we can walk out that door tomorrow and learn what it is we are trying to become, to bridge the gap.”  Dooku tells her, she frowns thoughtfully.

“Dooku we cannot make it as it was before, it fell apart for a reason.  We must make it better, more durable.  Nothing ever lasts forever but hopefully our version will not result in many a galactic war.  But this is it, this is when we decide the fate of our new Order, when we decide what and who we will be.  It is not enough to combine the Jedi and the Sith and these…Traditional users, we must become more.  There was something missing before, something we must find and create in the future.”  He nods thoughtfully determined.

“Then that is what we will do.”

 

 

Arl and Dooku meditated for several hours before falling asleep.  Still they woke early the next day and went out exploring.  They split up to look around the village, Arl took the outskirts as Dooku looked through the village centre.

“May I walk with you?” Halvi asks Arl as she walks around, she nods smiling kindly as he falls into step beside her.  “The healers say your friend will be okay but his recovering is taking longer than they first believed.  I do not know how far you transferred, but your friend was not properly shielded from whichever part of the force you used.  He is Jedi they say, so one would assume it was based more in the parts the Sith use.  We both know there is no true parting but when one has only used one part, the other can be rather problematic to them if not trained correctly.  Such exposure was very dangerous.”

“Yes, I am beginning to realise that.  I did warn them both but alas, they did not listen.” She tells him honestly, he smiles in understanding.

“My student does much the same thing.”

“Master Halvi, may I ask you a question about the force?”

“it is my job to guide in the ways of the force all those who seek to learn it.”

“What is the force?”

“Many find my views on this quite…radical.” He warns her, she nods for him to continue.  “The force is a child, a traumatised one at that.  I do not know why but this child did not grow up, something truly terrible happened that stumped that part of aging even as it accelerated others.  This child was frightened and did not want to be alone, so the force reached out and touched others.  We speak to it, we rely on it and we keep it close to our hearts, I suspect this comforts us far less than it does the child itself.  In doing so though, we influence the way it interacts with us.  If we always use it in anger, it will come to us angry.  In a sense, I suppose, this child feels what we feel and amplifies what we can do with that feeling.  The Jedi view such power as dangerous and so seek to purge themselves of emotion, a foolish endeavour as I am sure you are aware.  The Sith rely on their emotions too much, it over rides their ability to think logically as well, both are needed for sound decision making and it is no different when using the force.  There are those that believe our creator did not just create the order, but the force itself as well.”

“But not you?”

“No, I believe the creator _is_ the force.” Arl smiles serenely, “I must say I have never gotten that reaction before.”

“I am also often called radical for my views on things, being here and speaking to you, it is like coming home.  Everything feels right, and balanced and…sane.” She chuckles at her own bad description as does he.

“There is no such thing as balance in this world child, all we can do is try and keep both good and evil in check.”  He looks at her oddly.

“Someone once said to me, ‘do or do not, there is no try.’”

“Sometimes all we have to give is our willingness to make the attempt.” Pyre tells her, she nods in agreement, “Something is bothering you.”

“There is something missing.” She replies hesitantly.

“From what?”

“From the order, you have the Sith, The Jedi, you who are both.  Sith that protect people, Jedi that protect peace, you who protect the order, but what protects the force?”

“The creator.”

“But if you are correct, if the force is the creator, then she is left to defend herself.”

“The only thing powerful enough to do so would be force-magic, and not all are capable of learning it.”

“You said it is your job to guide all those who seek to learn the ways of the force?” he nods, “Where I come from, only select individuals are born with the ability to use the force.” He looks astounded.

“All can use the force, some can from birth yes but all can learn.”

“Such is the way with all things I feel.  Force-Magic included.” He considers her point before nodding.

“Perhaps they just need to find the right teacher.”

_“_ _I do not believe it will solely be my responsibility to save it all, it_ _’_ _s my belief that I must teach other Jedi the skill so that they may join me in whatever battle or situation I one day find myself in.  Or perhaps I will not be there at all and it is simply my job to ensure others are prepared to defend reality from whatever threat is around._ _”_

“Or perhaps the right teacher needs to find them.”

 

Dooku walks through the centre of the village in awe, he was standing in the past, the literal past.  Thirteen thousand years in the past…did he mention he’s in _The Past_?!  He tries to take in every detail as he looks around, he’s spoken to several people asking them questions about their village, their way of life and themselves.  He never could help his curiosity to know what others do not, it is what led him to study the Sith and eventually to learn under one.

“Lord Tyranus, your friend is waking.” Eran calls to him several hours later, he runs over in time to see Quinlan sit up and look around in alarm.

“Quin, you’re all right, stay calm.”

“Ty, why is everything watching me?” Quin asks with his eyes wide, Dooku looks very confused before one of the healers steps in.

“He’s delirious, he needs to sleep it off, he’ll be better when he wakes again.”

“You hear that Quinlan?  It’s bed time.”

He looks at him in complete and total confusion as Dooku gently leans him back to lay down on the bed, then he’s fast asleep.

“He will sleep for sometime, when he wakes he should be more coherent though do not expect complete clarity, or the ability to focus well.  Short term memory loss is also a distinct possibility, all will dissipate with time however his body and mind need to realign in himself and in the force.  He cannot transfer again until he has done so or he will die.”

“How long?” Dooku asks concerned.

“At least two weeks, perhaps more.”

“What can I do to help him?”

“He will sleep a lot, but keep him grounded in reality when he is awake, help him to know the difference.  He will suffer from dizzy spells that will last perhaps a week and a lack of appetite but that should return within a few days.  I have never seen a case of this so severe, if there are any long-term effects, we will be learning of them at the same time.” The healer tells him gravely, he nods his understanding and his thanks before patting his friend on the hand a few times and leaving the room to sit on the edge of the fountain in the centre of the village.

“Will he be all right?” Eran asks joining him when she notices he has left the healer.

“Eventually.” He says resigning himself to a long and stressful recovery, he did not wish to burden the young girl with it though and so smiled brightly at her, “So what do you do for fun here Eran?”

 

 

Arl and Halvi return to the village centre to join the town for mid-meal, they find Dooku and Eran howling from the roof tops, the villagers look unconcerned at the display.

“What in the name of the gods is going on?”

“It appears my student has brought your friend into her games.  I have yet to learn the rules of this one, perhaps he can teach me.”

“Tyranus does not often mess around with people like this, though I suppose given the situation he’s been dealing with for many years I can understand that.”

“Perhaps being here feels like coming home to him as well.” Arl smiles to the man as she moves to help the others set out tables and food before the village children, and Dooku, join them to eat.

Throughout lunch, they learn much of the villagers and give an edited version of themselves in return.  They know they are hiding things from them but for whatever reason allow them to get away with it.  They also joke around a lot, given the constant arguing or tension-filled silence that had plagued Arl, Dooku, and Quin for three weeks, it was a refreshing change.

After lunch, they catch each other up on what they had learnt as well as updates on Quinlan’s condition before joining Halvi, Eran, and another child for afternoon meditation.  This other child was Wren Pol, Wren is Eran’s twin brother and the other student of Halvi.

By the end of their second day, Arl and Dooku felt perfectly at ease in the village, this put Quin on edge when he awakened the next day.

“No, no no, no no.  This is not how you do you guys.” He tells them as they catch him up on the basics of things, this took quite a while since they had to keep repeating themselves slowly when he didn’t understand, they exchange confused looks.

“I thought you said he would be coherent?” She asks Dooku who shrugs.

“No shut up, I am making sense just not to you.”

“That is the basis of coherency Quinlan.”

“Arl, when you meet new people, you treat them with wary respect until given a reason to change that.  Dooku, with a cold but diplomatic kind of detachment.  How the fuck have you both gotten so attached to a village in two days?”

“If it helps, Arl was a distant ass for the first day.”

“It does not, that should have been your job.”

“Well to be fair, I did not even want to come back here and started everything cynically, he looked things over logically and eventually made me go out and see things for myself.” Arl tells him, he considers it.

“Okay that is how you do you.”

“Oh thank you so much for your approval on how I do me.”

“Look there is something you guys need to know.” Quin tells them quietly, “I did not think it would matter much but after what the healers told me I realised I had made a grave error.  Maul…he…I…” Quin tries to say before beginning to panic and has to wait as he breathes it out.  “He used to send waves of pain mixed in with pure darkness into me, I was the only one such things affected and he enjoyed…playing…with it.  He practically trained my body to react terribly to darkness when exposed.” Arl’s glower is murderous.

“What else?” She asks shortly, he hesitates.

“When we get back, please, I need to be home to do this.” He asks with tears filling his terrified and pleading eyes, she nods as Dooku rubs his back soothingly.

“There is of course two problems with that, one we can’t go back until you are fully healed, and two you will just end up in the same state.  Healed or not it could kill you, we do not know how to treat it like these people did.”  Dooku tells him, Arl shakes her head.

“Halvi told me that he was not properly shielded against the parts of the force he had never used.  If we can protect you from it you should be largely fine.  It’s the in-between that is the problem, or what is in it anyway.”

“What’s an in-between, what is in it, and why is it the problem?”

“It is a place of nothing between two something’s, a place that does not exist but has to for everything else to.  It’s…complicated.  We may be able to cut down our time spent in there which may help but, I do not know how to get you in or out any other way then the way I did.” Arl says, Dooku narrows his eyes at her, Quin didn’t really seem to have followed any of that.

“You never answered the other two questions.  I think we have learnt by now not to keep secrets from each other haven’t we Arl?”

“I do not know what is in it.  There cannot be anything in it but…I don’t…I-I.” She says, stuttering when she can’t find the words, “My Mentor and I were attacked, it should not have been possible, she didn’t have time to explain, and…and it doesn’t matter, we can’t change it anyway. I’m going to meditate.” She announces abruptly before leaving.  Dooku looks at Quin confused, he shrugs.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t even know what she said.” Dooku just looks more confused at that.

 

A few hours later, once Quinlan is asleep again, Arl seeks her other partner out to smooth things over after her abrupt departure.

“We need to focus on getting home without killing Quinlan, whatever else is going on, we’ll deal with it then.” Dooku tells her when he notices her coming towards him with a regretful face, she smiles, thankful he is not pressing the issue.

“We also need to get what we came here for.” He nods in agreement.

“There is one more thing, something was off about Quin when we were talking, I know you sensed it too.”

“Just a little too slow on understanding us, going from talking oddly quietly to just a bit too loud, sometimes missing bits of what we said, yeah I noticed.  He’s not at 100% yet Ty, it’s probably nothing to worry about.”  Dooku sighs before looking at her far too seriously for her not to be worried.

“Arl I asked him after you left, he can’t hear us, he can’t hear anything.”

 

 

The next two weeks are spent like this.

Quinlan learning to shield his body with the force, Dooku learning how the people in the village live and Arlie learning how these people used the force and how it is taught/learnt.  Quinlan was back to full health except one side effect, he was deaf.  As it turns out, he can use the force to understand what people are saying, so long as he knows they are speaking so that he can focus the force that way.  With practice, he could ‘hear’ something happening anywhere if he focuses on understanding what they are saying.  He has to learn that alone though since no one else in the village is deaf to know how to do it.

“Master!” Eran yells running into the village looking severely panicked.

“Eran?” Dooku asks concerned from where he is standing speaking to Halvi and another Master of the Force.

“Master they are coming, the Western Dwellers, they have set up camp in the far trees.” She cries desperately, whispers of fear spread throughout the village immediately.

“Are you sure Eran?” She nods frantically.  “Show me your map, where are they?” He asks her as he pulls her over to one of the eating tables that a villager has pulled forth for them.

“Without knowledge of the trees it is a week’s journey away.” A villager says.

“If they know we are here, who’s to say they do not have such knowledge?” Another calls.

“If they did they would have come from further North.” Eran tells them all, several nod their agreement.

“Then you have a week to plan a defence.” Dooku tells them, he being familiar with the situation between the village and the Western Dwellers.

“Will you not help us?” Wren asks as he walks over with Arl.

“I am truly sorry but we cannot get involved.” Arl says looking genuinely apologetic.

“But you are involved!  This is your home too!” Eran tells her, she nods.

“I know Eran, and if it were just us then I would be there helping in every way I can.  Because this is my home and I wish beyond life that I could defend it.  But there is a lot more at stake here than you know.”

“What could be more important than family?” The girl’s questions Arl who looks ashamed.

“I have thought that way before and it led to a quarter of a century of evil.”

“Arl, this village cannot defend itself unless we have the whole village backing us up.  That is how the order of the force works, we are not strong enough without the support of all of us.” Eran tells her fiercely, Arl wonders if this philosophy came about through the Creators need to have all sides of the force backing her up to destroy a spirit.

“Eran if the lives of everyone in the galaxy rested upon your shoulders, what lengths would you go to to keep them safe?”

“All of them, it is our nature to protect those in need…oh.” She says looking disappointed, Dooku kneels in front of her and places his hands on her shoulders.

“What belief is this order built on Eran?” He questions the girl.

“No one should ever have to be alone in times of trouble.” He smiles.

“We may not be able to help defend you, but you are not ever alone.  We will be with you, always, in here.” He tells her pointing to her head, “And in here.” He tells her pointing to her heart, “And in the force.”  She smiles at him before hugging him closely.

“Have hope for the future right Eran?” Arl asks, the girl smiles.

 

The village works to plan a defence, Arl, Quin, and Dooku mostly stay with the children too young to be a part of it in order to allow all adults to help.  It was risky even doing that, but Eran was right, this was their home too.

“We have to leave soon.” Quinlan tells the two of them one night, three days after Eran came running with the news of the Western Dwellers.

“Not for a few days.” Dooku counters listening to the force.

“There is one more thing for us to see, after the battle, we leave.” Arl says after making sure Quin knew to listen through the force.  It was much easier to speak through the pairbond the three of them share but Quinlan had requested they not until they return home, practice for then.  They were placing bets on how long before someone noticed.

 

A few days later, they hide in the trees as the Western Dwellers advance on the village, Quinlan has to look away from the battle, Dooku flinches every time they see one of their own be killed.  Arl had been to war, had run it, this was nothing new to her. 

They watched in silence as both sides slaughtered each other, but theirs was losing badly.  They had been unaware that the Western Dwellers’ had any Sith among them, this, Arlie felt, was the first time the dark dangers of the Sith life when not observed by the self closely, reared its ugly head.

Wren and Halvi were killed by the Sith ten minutes after the fighting began, Eran was half way across their village turned battlefield, but stumbled.  She had felt every bit of the pain they were in, and she screamed.  She projected that pain onto every. Single. Person on the battlefield.  The three of them untouched, likely from distance.  She tore her way through the battlefield, ripping the Western Dwellers apart with nothing but the force.  By the time it was over, all were dead, on both sides, save for Eran, who dropped to her knees in the middle of the mayhem.

Sensing it all over, the trio make their way down to the girl who looked completely distraught as she observed the remains of her village, half of which was on fire.

“I did not, I, I did not mean for that to happen, any of it.” The girls whispers brokenly when they grow near.

 **“What did she say?** **”** Quin asks Arl as Dooku kneels in front of her.

**“She did not mean for any of this to happen.** **”**

“I know Eran, what happens from here though, that is a decision you must make.  Which path will you take?” Dooku tells the girl who looks as lost as they all felt upon arrival, not in the physical sense but there was a lot of unresolved issues in each of them.  Issues that this village and the people in it did heaps to solve, seeing it broken and on fire, filled with the bodies of the people they all loved and cared for…it hurt all four of them.  This was a place of healing, it always had been, they did not deserve this.

“I cannot be this, I cannot allow this to happen again.”

 

The three stay long enough to light everyone’s pyre’s as is tradition for the order of the force.

“This tradition needs a name.” Eran tells them as she watches her Master burn, he is the last remaining.

“It does not have one?” Dooku asks, she shakes her head, “Perhaps you should name it then.” He suggests, she studies the flames with interest and sorrow before her entire being in the force is filled with a steely resolve.

“Pyre, the lighting of the Pyre.  Then every time it is used, every time one of our own is lost, I will remember.  I will remember where it begun, where I came from, and I will remember what I am fighting to prevent.”

After the final embers have lost their glow, the trio hug their friend goodbye.

“What will you do now?” Arlie asks.

“I have to stop the Sith from hurting anyone, I know there are good ones out there, like Ty, but if there are more such as these, I must stop them.  I have a way of contacting the creator, I will tell her of what’s happened and if she allows it, I will join the Jedi.  We will wage our war on these Darkened Sith and we will do it from here, where the war began.”

“Just remember where you came from Eran.” Quin tells her, “And good luck.  All will be well.” He tells her knowing it will remind her of her own personal code, she smiles.

“Have hope in the future.” She tells them.

“Have faith in yourself.” Dooku adds, Arl smiles at them before adding the last part.

“Have trust in the force.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a rap everyone!  
> Sorry a whole bunch of chapters came up at once, I kept forgetting to update and this seemed like a better option.  
> Anyway,  
> That's it for this story.  
> Next should be up in the next few days.  
> Thank you for reading!


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